Lifeless Jays lose big to Pirates.

Pirates v Jays. Game three of series.
Winner takes the series tonight. Jays are once again disappointing against a team that they should be hammering big-time. But as with the Astros this team seems unable to beat weaker teams. Unfortunately all the attention right now is on the Canada weekend series against the Phillies and the media hype re Halladay returning is distracting from the old maxim worry about the game in hand. We shall see what they do tonight. Cecil is back from his stint in Vegas,

Line-ups: Pirates: Presley, d’Arnaud, McCutchen, Diaz, Overbay, Cedeno, Wood, Harrison, McKenry and Karstens pitching.
Jays: Escobar, Thames, Bautista, Lind, Encarnacion, Hill, Patterson, Arencibia, Davis and Cecil pitching.

Top 1st: Presley, this is big trouble, liners it to the wall in left, in to third with no throw. Leadoff triple. Not what Cecil was hoping for on his return. d'Arnaud grounds to Bautista, looks Presley back and throw to Lind to get d’Arnaud. McCutchen grounds to Bautista at third, throw to Lind for second out but Presley scores 1-0 Pirates. Diaz singles to centre. Overbay. Mixed reception with boos. Jessica Jay and I are applauding Lyle, he did not want to leave the Jays, he was superfluous with Lind as heir apparent at first. Lyle strikes out
Bottom 1st: Jays playing catch-up early before many of this crowd are in their seats. We can see the Phillies fans already here for the weekend. Escobar, singles to right, good start. Thames singles to centre, two on Escobar at third. Two on nobody out surely they can get one here. Bautista grounds to first, but Overbay throwing home and gets Escobar, one down Bautista safe at first, Thames to second on the play. Lind, try again, oh no, grounds to second, throw to Cedeno over to Overbay double play ball, just like that the promising start is snuffed. Same old story of runners in scoring position. What will it take to turn this around. I feel sorry for Cecil though. That could have been a big inning.

Top of 2: Cedeno strikes out. Wood strikes out. Two down for Harrison fly ball to Thames in right. Nice three up and down for Cecil
Bottom of 2: Encarnacion grounds to third, throw to Overbay, one down. Hill fly ball to McCutchen in centre, two down. Patterson grounds to second, throw to Overbay. Bottom of the order for the Jays is pretty weak and that is being kind. Tends to ruin the pitching efforts as Romero put it so well last week.

Top 3rd: McKenry pops up to short Escobar. Presley, 3-0 and ball four, Cecil’s first walk. . d'Arnaud grounds to Bautista at third, throws to Lind for second down. Presley to second. McCutchen fly ball to Patterson in left.
Bottom 3rd: Arencibia grounds to d'Arnaud at third, throw to Overbay. One down. Davis pops up to third base d'Arnaud. That’s better Escobar singles to centre, 2-2 night already for Escobar. Thames grounds to Harrison at second base, throw to first base for the decision making.

Top 4th: Diaz fly ball to right field Thames. Overbay strikes out, two down. Cedeno full count, ball four. Wood fly ball to Thames
Bottom 4th: Bautista, not giving Jose anything to hit, ball four and leadoff walk. Lind grounds to pitcher Karstens throw to first base Overbay, Bautista to second. One down for Encarnacion strikes out. I think Edwin’s hitting streak may just be over. Hill grounds to third base d'Arnaud, throw to first base Overbay.

Top 5th: Harrison doubles to centre, one down. McKenry bunting Cecil to Hill, Harrison moves to third. Presley sac fly to Patterson, Harrison scores. d'Arnaud doubles to left. McCutchen intentional walk. Diaz fly ball to Thames in right.
Bottom 5th: Patterson bunting, first base Overbay takes it himself, makes the out on his own. Arencibia, full count gets under this one no doubt about it. Home run to left. 2-1 Pirates, that has woken up this crowd, nothing much to cheer about so far. Davis fly ball to left field Presley. Escobar, gets under this one and does his usual narcissistic home run trot, is admiring it bigtime. But that’s ok Yunel as you have tied this one up. 2-2. Thames grounds to Overbay for third out.

Top 6th: Overbay pops this one up to shallow left, oh dear what a mess, Patterson involved in yet another snafu out there, running in hard from left he tangles with Bautista and Escobar and the ball drops. From this seat it looked as if that was Bautista’s ball, Patterson should have been nowhere near it. Meantime Lyle is at second. Escobar's error, and Lyle moves to third. This gets worse. Cedeno doubles to right, here comes Overbay 3-2 Pirates. Wood gets hold of this one over the left field wall, here comes Cedeno followed by Wood, 5-2 Pirates. Poor Cecil, that error has really changed things. Overbay should have been out. Harrison fly ball to Davis. Finally an out in this inning. McKenry fly ball to Davis, two down for top of the order again Presley, strikes out. Give Cecil some credit there for getting the three outs after giving up three but really that was the Overbay pop up that started all that and from here it looked like Patterson at fault.
Bottom 6th: Bautista grounds to d'Arnaud throw to Overbay, one down. Lind strikes out. Encarnacion grounds to Cedeno at short, throw to Overbay. Jays big bats unable to get one back for Cecil.

Top 7th: Cecil still out there, good for him. d'Arnaud leading off strikes out. McCutchen doubles to right. That is the end of Cecil for tonight. Crowd gives him a good ovation right to the dugout, they know that he pitched well and was victimised by his fielders. Dotel now pitching. Diaz singles to right, here comes McCutchen to score. This guy has speed. 6-2 Pirates. Overbay grounds to Hill throw to Escobar to get Diaz. Cedeno grounds to Escobar throw to second baseman Hill, Overbay out.
Bottom 7th: Hill leading off, grounds to Cedeno throw to Overbay at first, one down. Patterson, no boos but I am tempted, grounds out to Overbay two down. Arencibia pops up to catcher McKenry. This Jays team is lifeless tonight, no zip at all.

Top 8th:. Rzepczynski now pitching. Wood fly ball to Davis in centre, one down. Harrison fly ball to Thames in right, two down. McKenry grounds to Bautista throw to Lind. Another three up and down.
Bottom 8th: Resop now pitching. Davis grounds to Overbay, takes it himself to step on first. Escobar 2-2 tonight, full count and ball four, has reached base every at bat. Thames strikes out. Two down for Bautista, strikes out.

Top 9th: Camp pitching. Presley grounds to Lind, one down. d'Arnaud grounds to Escobar at short, throw to Lind, two down. McCutchen fly ball to Davis.
Bottom 9th: Jays last chance but to be truthful they have not looked in this game at all. Jones in at right field. Watson now pitching. Lind pops up to Harrison at second. That’s it for Watson, Pirates taking no chances that Jays will mount a comeback. Veras now pitching. Encarnacion pops up to Overbay. Two down for Hill, lines this one (finally gets one into the air into left) off the top of the wall and Hill makes it all the way to third. Unusual to see Hill getting a triple. Patterson lines it very hard but right at Overbay who makes a great catch and we all remember why he was so good at first base.
But that’s it for the sorry Jays tonight. If they cannot beat the Pirates at home, they could be in a for a long embarrassing weekend against the Phillies who will see this series as a chance to get three easy wins and they could be right based on the current play of the Jays. But then equally insane thought, the Jays could win a couple. Tomorrow Romero v Kendrick

Good tonight: Cecil, yes Cecil, he pitched well and deserved better from his teammates. Arencibia and Escobar home runs picking up the slack. Other good new tonight all from the minors, Snider cleared to play for Vegas tonight and both Casey Janssen and Dustin McGowan, yes you read correctly McGowan pitching in Dunedin on rehab assignments. The future looks good but it is the present that we unfortunately have to deal with and try to light a fire under some of these underachievers. Tonight was like being at a funeral, deadly dull, no spark of aggressive play form this current Jays team.
The awful: Once again Patterson, it is time they pulled the plug on this guy at least playing in the outfield. He attracts trouble wherever he plays and I am sorry but from my seat tonight there was no way left field should have been charging after that pop up. He would be the last person that Bautista would be expecting and if Jose cannot make that catch then it was not playable. Where was Patterson’s head? But we say that too many times about too many of this current line-up.

Speed and power from Thames gives Morrow enough support to beat Pirates 2-1

Pirates v Jays. Game two of three.

Some correspondents evidently saw more positives in last night’s game and specifically the fight back with power. I disagree but do agree about power. A delight to see Edwin hit two home runs after all the months watching him struggle. We might get on his case but we are just commenting on his results and would like nothing better than to see him go a home run tear. Tonight Morrow pitching, last couple of games have been very good for him, but right now this teams need hitting.

Marcum v Burnett in New York tonight.

Line-ups: Pirates: Presley, D’Arnaud, Jones, McCutchen, Walker, Overbay, Diaz, Cedeno, Fryer and Paul Maholm pitching.
Jays: Escobar, Thames, Bautista, Lind, Encarnacion, Hill, Rivera, Molina, Davis, and Morrow pitching.

Top 1st: Presley, strikes out swinging, one down for D’Arnaud, fly ball to Davis in centre, Jones lines it down first base line and great snare by Lind diving to his left, takes it himself to the bag for third out.
Bottom 1st: Escobar, singles into left centre, going for two and out on the throw. Poor base running there by Escobar. Thames, grounds to second, hustling on this one but just out at first, Very nice hustling Eric. Bautista, 3-1 nothing to hit, ball four. Jose walks yet again. Lind, singles up the middle, on an 0-2 pitch, Jose all the way to third. Two on two down for Encarnacion, they seem to think that Edwin is in a hitting streak, I hope so, but we have not had much evidence to go on this season so far. One game. 3-1 count, pops it up to right and Jays leave two on.

Top 2nd: McCutchen leading off. Strikes out. Walker takes strike three. Two down for Overbay, full count, strikes out looking, Morrow mowing then down here early. Four strikeouts already.
Bottom 2nd: Hill leading off. Grounds to short, throw to Overbay one down. Rivera, singles into left, Molina, grounds to third, throw to second on to first double play ball.

Top 3rd: Diaz, first pitch fly ball to Davis in centre, one down. Cedeno, grounds to Hill at second throw to Lind, two down for Eric Fryer, grounds to third, great play by Bautista moving left so smoothly as if he had been playing there all season, throw to Lind to end the inning.
Bottom 3rd: Davis high pop up to Overbay at first, one down. Escobar, no poor base running this time Yunel. Lines it to McCutchen in centre, two down for Thames. Grounds to second, throw to first to end the inning. Pitchers duel tonight.

Top 4th: Presley leading off. Full count. Grounds to Lind, quick flip to Morrow out at first. Manager disagrees. One down, D’Arnaud grounds hard to third, off the glove of Bautista Escobar backing up makes the play but runner safe at first. One on for Jones, 3-0 count. Lines it at Hill, throw to first to double up but umpire calls safe. Two down, McCutchen grounds to Bautista at third, throw to Lind for the out.
Bottom 4th: Time for Jays bats to appear tonight. Bautista leading off. Gets underneath this one, high pop up to D’Arnaud at third. Lind, one down, drives this one to the wall in right, off the wall and Lind at second for Encarnacion. Oh boy, first pitch wild swing, back to normal Edwin. Pops up to first. Two down for Hill, showing some patience here 3-1 count, grounds to D’Arnaud, throw to first, leaving Lind out there.

Top 5th: Walker leading off. 3-1 count, ball four. One on for Overbay, full count, singles to Thames in right, Walker all the way to third on the play. Two on and nobody out. Morrow in trouble here. Diaz, 2-2 count, grounds to Bautista at third, throw home gets Walker. Molina manhandles the poor guy off the plate. One down two on. Cedeno, singles up the middle to Davis, runs scores 1-0 Pirates. in rundown and tagged out. Cedeno goes to second. Fryer, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. Could have been much worse for Morrow.
Bottom 5th: Rivera leading off. 2-0 count, high pop up to right centre, one down. Molina high pop up centre, two down. Jays just do not have it here tonight. Davis, there we go, lines it the wall in left, an easy double for Davis. Now perhaps we can see some action on the bases. Will he take third? Nothing to lose tonight. Escobar, 1-2 count, maybe too late now. 2-2 count. Full count now he will be going, too bad it so late. Grounds to short, throw to first yet another runner wasted. Farrell has to be far more aggressive on the bases, runners are so few and far between, put some pressure on.

Top 6th: Presley leading off. 3-1, ball four. Morrow nearing the end of his outing tonight. d’Arnaud, strikes out swinging, one down for Jones, strikes out swinging, two down. McCutchen, runner going, Molina throw in the dirt, Presley safe at second. Throw was there in time, Hill could not make the play, ball four, Morrow loses him. Two on two down. Walker, 1-2 count, ball in the dirt 2-2 count, and runner moves up to third. Walker strikes out swinging but Morrow making very hard work of that inning. Struck out the side but used up a large number of pitches. Could be his last tonight.
Bottom 6th: Probably Jays last chance this inning to do something, top of the order, Maholm now pitching. Pirates bullpen closing the doors. Thames, lines it to centre, bounces off the top of the wall, home run Thames, his first major league home run. Game is tied up 1-1. Bautista lines it into left, just beats the throw at second. Lind now, can he bring in Jose? 1-2 count, the worst, lazy pop up to short, Jose has to stay at second, one down for Encarnacion. Has another chance to show that he is for real. 2-1 count, oh boy grounds to short throw to second gets Bautista but Encarnacion safe at first, two down. Hill, 0-2 tonight, singles into left, one batter too late Aaron. Encarnacion moves to second, two on two down for Rivera. Pops it up to second. Jays hitters after Lind are just not in the same league. Nobody out and runner at second and three of them unable to bring him in. Two bunts would have done it.

Top 7th: Overbay, Morrow still out there, 2-2 count, strikes out looking, one down for Diaz. Strikes out swinging, two down. Strike out number ten for Morrow tonight, Cedeno, 1-2 count, bounces up the middle to Escobar, no chance for throw to first. One on for Fryer, pops up to Thames. 117 pitch count and ten strikeouts. Three walks.
Bottom 7th: Molina leading off, 0-2 count, pops up to second, one down. Davis, 2-2 count, lines it to left centre bounces over the wall for grounds rule double, Rajai may have been robbed there, he was going for three. Escobar, that will do it lines it into left, here comes Rajai no problem, 2-1 Jays. Escobar sliding into second safe on throw. Thames now grounds to Overbay, takes it himself but Thames sliding in headfirst not in time Escobar to third. Bautista will they pitch to him, no way, another intentional walk. Lind now with two on, can he make them pay here? High first strike. Takes strike two. Terrible strikes out swinging. Jays leave two more out there yet again but they have the lead.

Top 8th: Six outs to go, can he bullpen hold this for Morrow to win? Frasor pitching. Top of Pirates order, Presley 2-2 count, full count, don’t walk him Jason. Fly ball to Rivera in left, one down. d’Arnaud, 2-0 count, ball three, Frasor not sharp at all here. High ball four. Rzepczynski warming up in bullpen. Jones, grounds to Lind throw to second back to Frasor at first not in time, two down. McCutchen, 2-2 count, great play, Jones going to second, Molina out there and great throw to first as Jones dives back too late at first.
Bottom 8th: Tim Wood now pitching. Encarnacion, bounces to short, throw to first, Edwin did not continue his hot streak from last night. Hill, lazy pop up to centre, two quick outs. Patterson? first pitch ! pops up to third, what a bunch. I just don’t get Patterson. Pinch hitting first pitch?

Top 9th: Francisco now pitching. One run game. Patterson stays in the game, oh boy. Just stay away from centre Corey. McCutchen, fly ball to right, Thames gets it at the wall. One down. Walker, full count, bounces it to Lind, takes it himself, two down. Overbay, full count, ball four outside. Pinch runner Josh Harrison for Overbay. Diaz,1-2 count, there goes the runner, bounces to Escobar throw to Lind and the Jays win one. 2-1. Save number nine for Frank.

The very good: Morrow. Bullpen of Frasor and Francisco complete the win.
The not so good: Same old runners left out there in scoring position.
Everyone talking about the weekend series with the Phillies and ignoring the Pirates, concentrate on this team or Jays will regret it

Jays sandlot defense ruins their power comeback as Pirates win 7-6

Pirates v Jays Game one of three.
Jays return home after long road trip. Old friend Lyle Overbay playing for the Pirates. Pirates have been playing well this week so Jays had better not take them lightly.

Pirates: Presley, D’Arnaud, Walker, McCutchen, Overbay, Diaz, Jones, Cedeno, McKenry and Correia pitching.
Jays: Escobar, Thames, Bautista, Lind, Rivera, Hill, Patterson, Encarnacion, Arencibia and Reyes pitching.

Top 1st: Presley leading off, grounds to Lind, almost a mess there, Lind takes it himself just gets there just, barely just, that was much too close. One down for Chase D’Arnaud, brother of Jays catcher prospect in the minors. Strikes out looking, two down. Neill Walker, full count. Strikes out swinging. Nice start for JoJo.
Bottom 1st: Escobar, high fly ball to McCutchen at the wall in right centre, but long out. One down for Thames. Fly ball to McCutchen shallow centre, two down. Bautista, 3-1 count, another fly ball to McCutchen in centre. Busy guy out there.

Top 2nd: McCutchen, 2-2 count, pops up to Rivera in left. One down for Overbay, takes strike three, three pitches, two down for Matt Diaz, singles to Thames in right. Garret Jones, grounds to Lind takes it himself for third out.
Bottom 2nd: Lind, lines it to the wall in right, long single. Rivera, looks at strike three, I hate that. One down for Hill, 0-2 count, grounds back to Correia, throw to second on to first, double play ball, Hill continues from last night same play.

Top 3rd: Ronny Cedeno, singles into right. One on for McKenry. 2-2 count, strikes out on ball at the chin. Way up in the zone. Presley, 2-2 count, full count, oh boy there it goes home run into right field seats, 2-0 Pirates. D’Arnaud, 3-0 count, JoJo rattled here, ball four, one on one down for Walker. There goes the runner, throw gets away into centre but runner stays at second. 2-0 Reyes has lost the strike zone. Here comes the pitching coach Walton to sort JoJo out. Pops up to Hill, two down for McCutchen, another wild throw by Arencibia, Walker goes to third on the throw, awful defence from Arencibia error on the play, pops this one up to Hill in foul territory behind first but almost collides with Lind. Jays need to get their heads into this game and fast. They are playing sandlot ball here.

Bottom 3rd: Patterson leading off, pops up to short, one down. Encarnacion, DH tonight. Hammers this one, over the bullpen into left seats. Home run Edwin, 2-1 game. Arencibia hitting number nine, good spot for him right now, not the best right now, full count, fouling them off here but just missing. 10 pitch at bat. Strikes out swinging at one inside. 11 pitch at bat. Two down for Escobar. High pop up to right but Jays get one back at least.

Top 4th: Overbay, singles first pitch into centre, one on for Diaz, what a horrible play, lines it to right centre, bounces over head of Thames as he totally misjudged that ball. Bounces to the wall as back up Patterson misses the ball. Overbay scores and Jones to third, 3-1 Pittsburgh still no outs and Diaz at third, Jones full count. Bounces to Lind, where is Reyes ???? not over at first in time, Lind has no one to throw to, Jones safe at first. Run scores 4-1 Pittsburgh. what is happening out there ? bush league defense. Cedeno, there goes Jones and once again Arencibia throw wild nowhere near the bag, Hill saves that one. Singles over head of Hill, into right. Runner to third. Two on and still nobody out. McKenry, 1-2 count. strikes out swinging, Bronx cheer by the crowd for the first out of the inning. Presley, loops it into shallow centre, 5-1 Pittsburgh. D’Arnaud, two on one down, fly ball to centre, right at Patterson and able to make the catch did not have to move fortunately. Two down. Walker still with two on, singles into left, here comes Presley, 6-1 Pittsburgh. Finally Farrell is out there much too late but better than nothing. Am not sure this Jays offense is good enough to overcome this deficit. Perez now pitching McCutchen grounds to Bautista at third, throw to second to end this agony.
Bottom 4th: Jays now have to play this one out for some respectability here but it is the mental part of their game tonight that is awful. Not a way to pack in the fans at home. Thames, who started this mess last inning. full count, singles into left, Bautista but even he cannot score five runs. 2-0 count, Jose will not get anything to hit here. Full count, bends his knee, gets that swing and there she goes, no doubt about this one, into left field seats home run Jose. 6-3 Pittsburgh. Lind, strikes out swinging at a ball in the dirt, not a good at bat Adam. Rivera, lazy swing and pops it up to first, two down for Hill. At least no chance for double play Aaron, grounds to short, throw to first Jose has to do it all tonight I am afraid.

Top 5th: Overbay started the rot last inning. Strikes out this time. Diaz, 1-2 count, singles into right. Jones, 2-2 count, grounds to Hill, throw to Escobar for one, no chance for double play, two down for Cedeno. Full count, takes strike three for final out. Perez has done his job and held them, now can the Jays hitters get it going?
Bottom 5th: Patterson lines it to left one down. Encarnacion, fly ball to centre, two down. Arencibia, having a terrible game behind the plate tonight. one way to get on base, hits him on the arm. Cuts him on the elbow. Perhaps that will help his throwing tonight...Escobar with one on. Two down, grounds to short throw to first to leave Arencibia out there.

Top 6th: McKenry 2-2 count, strikes out looking, one down. Presley, full count, strikes out swinging, two down for D’Arnaud, grounds to Escobar at short throw to Lind for third out. Three up and down inning?
Bottom 6th: Thames leading off. lines this one to the wall in right centre, Thames turning on the speed and all the way to third, Bautista, must like having Thames hitting in front of him. 1-2 crowd thinks that was low. Bounces to third, here comes Thames d’Arnaud fumbles the ball and Bautista safe at first, 6-4 Pittsburgh. Now Lind, your turn. 2-0 count, 3-0, not giving Adam much here. Ball four, two on nobody out. Rivera, ball one, 2-0, the worst, Rivera pops it up six feet away for Overbay, one down. Hill, what is with this guy? Grounds it to short, throw to second over to first yet another double play ball by Hill, that is his third double play in two games ???? Ruins this inning. Maybe that is why the coaches are trying to get him to go the other way.

Top 7th: Walker, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind, one down for McCutchen, lines it high into left field seats, 7-4 Pittsburgh, the Hill poor at bats are counting big now. Overbay, 2-2 count. Bounces to Lind, takes it himself for the second out. Diaz, here comes Farrell, that’s it for Perez he did very well, stopped the bleeding in the fourth and gave up just one run. Dotel now pitching. Diaz, 3-3 tonight, 1-2 count here, pops it up to Patterson in centre for third out. Dotel did his job as did Perez. It is the Jays hitters without the name of Bautista that need to appear tonight.
Bottom 7th: Tony Watson now pitching. Patterson bunting over the backstop. 2-2 count, this will do it, turns on this one pulls it into right field seats home run to Patterson, 7-5 Pittsburgh. Encarnacion, full count, Oh boy Edwin, hammers this one high into left centre, 7-6 Pittsburgh. Two home runs for Edwin, must be a full moon out there tonight we have seen everything tonight. Four home runs for Jays and now a one run ball game. Chris Resop now pitching. Arencibia, can he go back to back to back? Has the power. 2-0 count, down and away, 3-0. Ball four. Escobar now one on and still nobody out. Ball one, 3-1 count, lines it into left field corner, Arencibia to third, Escobar a double. Two in scoring position. Thames, nobody out. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for Bautista. Will they walk him, yes indeed, bases loaded, one down for Lind. That`s it for Resop. Jose Veras now pitching. Ball one, 2-0 count, oh boy, lines it to first, Overbay doubles up Bautista off first. Second inning they have had their chances, will they get a third.

Top 8th: Camp now pitching. Jones leading off. Bounces to Hill, throw to Lind one down. Cedeno. Full count, outside ball four, not what the Manager wants Camp. McKenry, pitch out and finally Arencibia gets a good throw and gets Cedeno at second. Two down, 3-1 count, Camp trying to be too fine here, singles into right. Presley, lines it to third, great catch by Bautista for third out.
Bottom 8th: Can Jays get one. Veras still pitching. Rivera, grounds to d`Arnaud, throw to Overbay one down. Hill having a terrible game tonight, fly ball to centre, that was where we wanted last at bat. Two down. Can the Jays afford Hill just for his glove when there are alternatives. Patterson fly ball to Jones in right. Jays go far too quietly.
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Top 9th: Rauch now pitching. Davis in centre. D`Arnaud leading off. 2-2 count, pops up to Hill, one down. Walker, grounds to Hill throw to Lind, two down. McCutchen, full count. Strikes out swinging. Bullpen has done their job but the hitters need one more.
Bottom 9th: Hanrahan closing this one down 22-22 this season, no contest. Encarnacion bounces to third, throw to first, one down. Arencibia, first pitch, I give up, bounces to short, throw to first, two down. Does Arencibia realise he needs to get on base here. Two down Escobar, bounces high to short and beats out the throw, safe at first. Escobar can hustle when he needs to. Thames, two down one on. 2-2 count. Strikes out swinging. Same old Jays. They had their chances and unable to come through with runners in scoring position.

The good: Tonight Encarnacion with his two home runs, Bautista with his home run to get the Jays back in this one down 6-1 and a 3RBI night, and the bullpen. Maybe just maybe Encarnacion is in one of those hitting streaks that Cito said he is capable of.

The awful: Where do we start with this tonight? Awful defence from Arencibia in the third and the fourth, fortunately neither throw cost the Jays in the third at least. Games like this you realise Arencibia still has lots to learn defensively. Thames in right, Patterson in centre, should never be out there. Reyes where was he tonight? His failure to get to first for the throw cost him a run and this was a one run ballgame. Hill hits into two double plays and hitless all night. Arencibia with his bat in the ninth. Jays 0-5 with runners in scoring position and still they had a chance to win this one.

Good outing from Stewart but Jays hitters unable to give him enough support

Jays v Tigers. Makeup game.
Not an easy game tonight to end this road trip for Jays. Zach Stewart has tough assignment against Scherzer.

Line-ups: Jays: Escobar, Thames, Bautista, Lind, Hill, Patterson, Molina, Davis, and Stewart pitching but NOT hitting. Hard for Thames to pick off where he left off it was too bad Farrell sat him down when he was going so well. I think he could have replaced Patterson. This is one tough outing also for Zach Stewart, he will need some run support tonight.
Tigers: Dirks, Kelly, Boesch, Cabrera, Martinez, Ordonez, Peralta, Avila, Raburn and Scherzer pitching.

Top 1st: Escobar leading off. 0-2 count, full count, ball outside called strike and Escobar NOT happy. One down for Thames, strikes out swinging, Bautista, 0-2 count, strikes out.
Bottom 1st: Dirks, grounds to Hill, throw to Lind, one down for Kelly lines it high and hard to right, Bautista makes the catch near the wall. Two down for Boesch. 3-1 count, grounds to Hill, throw to Lind for third out. Nice first inning for Stewart.
Top 2nd: Lind, grounds to second , throw to first, one down for Hill, 2-2 count, there you go Aaron PULLS it to left, finally, a single to left for Hill. He has a great pull stroke but has not used it much this season. Patterson, pulls this to right but just foul, that would have scored Hill. Pulls it to second, Hill to second on the play and Patterson out at first. Molina with two down and runner in scoring position. Strikes out swinging.

Bottom 2nd: Cabrera, singles to Davis in centre. Victor Martinez, this is trouble, lines it to the wall in left centre, here comes Cabrera 1-0 Tigers and Martinez at second for Ordonez. Perfect lines it to Hill makes a great leaping catch and doubles up Martinez, two down for Peralta. Full count. Singles back up the middle, Escobar can only knock it down. Runner Peralta safe at first. Avila, singles into left, Stewart having a rough inning here. Raburn with two on, strikes out swinging. Stewart pitches out of it. That is all they are asking from him until Cecil gets back in the rotation.

Top 3rd: Nix leading off, poor guy, not having a good time 2-2 count, grounds to short, throw to first just beats Nix, at least he was hustling down that line. Davis, another one all at sea at the plate. High, very high pop up to second, Rajai was at the bag before that one dropped. Two down for Escobar. Ouch that would hurt, fouls it off his foot. Here comes the trainer, we don’t need any injuries here. Staying in there. 2-2 count, grounds to third, throw to first for final out.
Bottom 3rd: Dirks, 3-0 ball four, leadoff walk to Dirks. Kelly, perfect grounds to Hill throw to Escobar covering bag at second over to Lind, double play ball. Boesch, bounces a slow roller to Nix at third, no chance for a throw to first. One on two down for Cabrera. That was tough for Stewart, no luck here tonight. Loops it into shallow right, no chance for a play. Two on two down for Martinez. Full count. Singles into right but that is deflected off the glove of Stewart past Hill, no breaks at all for Stewart, 2-0 Tigers. Ordonez fly ball to Bautista in right. That was one tough inning for Stewart, that slow roller to Nix started it. But as Romero reminds us the hitters have to play here as well and right now they are missing once again.

Top 4th: Thames, that’s the way Eric, lines it into right to the wall. Leadoff double. Bautista now. 2-2 count, wild pitch and Thames safe at third on the throw. Full count, this will do, grounds o shirt, Thames home as throw goes to first to get Bautista, one down but Jays get one back, 2-1. Lind, this one is out of here, Lind drives this high to right centre, home run all the way. 2-2 game. Hill, 0-2 count, takes third strike. Two down for Patterson bunting, foul. Slaps it to short, throw to first for third out. Jays get two back for Stewart.
Bottom 4th: Stewart needs to hold them here. Peralta, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for Avila, 2-2 grounds to Hill, throw to Lind for second out. Raburn, 2-2 lines to Davis in centre for third out. Nice inning by Zach Stewart. He did exactly what he had to do and get his hitters back out there fast.

Top 5th: Molina leading off, strikes out swinging, on down for Nix. Strikes out swinging, two down for Davis. 1-2 count, fly ball to centre for the out. Bottom third of the order awful so far tonight.
Bottom 5th: Dirks, first pitch grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind, one down for Kelly, strikes out, two down. Boesch, doubles into right field corner. One on two down for Cabrera. Pulls it to Nix at third, throw to Lind for third out. Another good inning for Stewart.

Top 6th: Escobar leading off. 0-2 count. Loops it into shallow centre. One on for Thames. Strikes out swinging, one down for Bautista, doubles into left Escobar??? what happened to him, only gets to third on that play ??? should have scored surely on that from first. Lind, intentional walk. Bases loaded for Hill. Only one down. Oh boy, grounds to first??? Coming home with throw to get Escobar, back to first to get Hill, double play. What a mess. I still think Escobar could have scored from first earlier. But even so, why is Hill going the opposite way? Pull it or at least get it in the air.
Bottom 6th: Martinez leading off. 2-2 count, grounds to Hill, throw to Lind, one down for Ordonez, singles again under a diving Jay fielder, Escobar at short this time. Peralta, grounds to Nix, throw to Hill unable to turn two. Avila, strikes out swinging. Nice work by Stewart. That is probably it for him tonight but Jays management should be pleased with that outing, with some luck this could be a very different score tonight. But Zach has definitely earned another shot, should be against the Phillies at the weekend.

Top 7th: Patterson 0-3 tonight, oh great bunt, up the line Cabrera unable to get the ball cleanly and with that speed Patterson safe. Speed once again. Molina, another perfect bunt, to first, Patterson easily to second, Molina out at first, one down. Nix, 2-0 count, 2-2 come on Jayson, that was the pitch right down the middle. Pitch way outside full count. Takes strike three, you missed your chance Jayson, now two down. Davis, am surprised that Farrell is not giving green light to Patterson out at second to steal third. Put some pressure on, be aggressive, unfortunately that game has disappeared since early season all the pity. Davis skies this one to third. What a wasted opportunity by Nix and Davis.
Bottom 7th: Frasor now pitching. Raburn leading off. Singles to left. One on for Dirks. Grounds to Hill, great diving shovel to Lind and gets him, no first base umpire calls him safe. Here comes Farrell, umpire checks with the others, now called out and motioning to Leyland, Leyland is furious, and not thrown out of the game. It certainly looked out. Kelly, full count, ball four two on, one down for Boesch, 0-2 count, Rzepczynski warming up in bullpen. High fly ball to centre, but Davis has the ball. Two down. Cabrera, not the guy you want to see here. 0-2 count, grounds to Hill, fumbles it but recovers to throw to Lind or the out. Nice pitching Jason. Now for the hitters to put this one away.

Top 8th: Benoit now pitching. Escobar leading off. Full count, grounds to second base throw to first, one down. Thames, 0-2 count, takes third strike, two down. Bautista, 1-2 count, singles into left, second hit tonight. Two down one on for Lind. Grounds to second throw to first for the final out.
Bottom 8th: Rzepczynski now pitching. Martinez leading off bounces one to Hill, throw to Lind, one down. Ordonez, pulls it into left. One on one down, pinch runner Austin Jackson for Ordonez. Camp now pitching. Peralta, 0-2 count, there goes Jackson, throw not in time. Lines it to right, Bautista going for the catch but gets past him into right centre. Here comes Jackson, 3-2 Tigers game. Avila, intentional walk. Raburn, 2-2 count, grounds to Escobar, to Hill over to Lind, not in time, no double play and Peralta comes in from third, run scores 4-2 Tigers. That’s it for Camp. Luis Perez now pitching. Two down one on. Dirks, grounds to Hill, throw to Lind to end the inning but not looking good for the Jays right now.

Top 9th: Middle of the order for the Jays, time for them to step up here. Tigers closer Valverde now pitching. Perfect all season. 17 saves out of 17 opportunities, well he has to blow it one day. Jays need two here. Hill, perfect, grounds to short under glove of Peralta into the outfield. Error on the play. Hill to first. Patterson, 0-2 count, pops up to Cabrera in shallow right. One down for Molina, there goes Hill, no throw and safe at second. They all count and of course he stays out of the double play. 3-1 count, he has to come to him now. Full count, Jays 0-5 RISP tonight. Lofts it to centre, oh Jackson drops the ball, Hill had to wait and now goes to third. Rivera pinch hitting. Johnny Mac pinch running for Molina. One down two on. Oh boy first pitch, grounds back up the middle, steps on second throw to first, double play ball. Never gave Johnny Mac a chance there. First pitch. Jays lose 4-1 but now head back home for a break and huge Canada Day weekend crowds for the Phillies.

The excellent: Stewart, went six and only gave up two runs and with a bit of luck could have been an even better outing. Bautista two great at bats. Hill couple of great defensive plays. Lind home run to get him back in the hitting groove in time for the Rogers Centre.
The not so good: Nothing really bad tonight apart from the usual poor hitting with runners in scoring position, Jays had their chances here tonight.

Romero does it all with bat and ball and wins big as Jays sweep Cardinals.

Jays v Cardinals. Final game of three.

Jays going for (very improbable sweep) and with Romero at least they have an excellent chance provided of course this line-up can score some runs for him. After last week’s tirade from Romero, we shall see.

Line-ups. Jays: Escobar, Hill, Bautista, Lind, Rivera, Encarnacion, Patterson, Arencibia, and Romero hitting and pitching.
Cardinals: Theriot, Schumaker, Holliday, Berkman, Brown, Rasmus, Cruz, Descalso, and Kyle McClellan hitting and pitching.

Top 1st: Escobar, this is a good start, lines it to the wall in left centre, leadoff double. With a bit of speed he might have made it to third, but not our Yunel. A double will do. Hill. Pulls it to third, long throw not in time. Escobar stuck at second but two on and nobody out for Bautista. Jose swinging away whilst they actually pitch to him. 2-2 count, down and away, bad pitch to swing on Jose and he knew it, one down for Lind. Pitching Adam inside, 2-2 count, swings over one in the dirt, two down for Rivera. Grounds first pitch to Descalso at third, takes it himself and Jays leave two out there. Not good, the Romero conspiracy theorists continue. But in reality some very poor hitting by Jose, Adam and Rivera. Give McClellan some credit also.
Bottom 1st: Theriot, pops it up to Bautista still out there in right today. Schumaker, strikes out swinging, two down for Holliday grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind for third out. Nice inning by Romero, but he wants some runs.

Top 2nd: Last night’s hero Encarnacion, pulls this one to Descalso at third, throw to first, one down for Patterson, 1-2 count, bounces to first, throw to McClellan to make the out, two down for Arencibia, hitting at number eight today, but good idea as he is not hitting well at all. 2-2 NO doubt about this one though, goes down for one and pulls it into seats in left field. Home run for JP and 1-0 Jays. Romero, pops it up to second.
Bottom 2nd; Romero out there again. Berkman, grounds first pitch to Escobar, throw to Lind, one down. Andrew Brown, 1-2 count, lines it to right, great catch by Bautista, running back to the corner and stretching back at full speed to get that one, WOW !, we shall miss this in right. Jose robs Brown of at least a double. Two down for Rasmus. 0-2 count. Strikes out swinging.

Top 3rd: Escobar, lines this one to centre but right at Rasmus for the out. Hill, grounds to short, throw to Berkman, two down for Bautista. Full count, whoa just misses this one just inside foul pole in left, very close to going out. Pops up to right.
Bottom 3rd: Cruz leading off. Fly ball to Patterson in centre. Descalso grounds to Hill, throw to Lind two down. McClellan, two down. Lines it at Lind, takes it to the bag himself. Another good inning by Ricky.

Top 4th: Lind, first pitch high pop up to short, he is really off with his timing these days. Rivera, singles to centre. Encarnacion, 2-0 count, Rivera takes second, no throw, not sure if that counts as a steal, but anyway it worked and Edwin cannot ground into a double play. Full count, grounds to third, throw to Berkman, two down. That would have been two if Rivera had not been at second. Patterson, 3-0 count, ball four and two on, two down for Arencibia. 2-2 count, takes third strike, Took a couple of good pitches earlier in the count, still looks uncertain of his pitch selection.
Bottom 4th: Theriot, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind, one down for Schumaker, singles into shallow right, first hit off Ricky today. Holliday, fly ball to Patterson in centre, two down. Berkman, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging.

Top 5th: Romero, had a good swing last at bat. Strikes out swinging this time. Escobar, 3-1 count, ball four, patience from Yunel. Hill, not this guy, pops up first pitch to shallow right, two down. The guy had just walked Escobar Aaron.Come on get your head in the game. Bautista, pulls it to third, throw to Berkman for third out. Looks as if Romero needs a perfect game to win this one.
Bottom 5th: Brown leading off, lines this one to left centre, Patterson and Rivera converging and BOTH let it drop, that is AWFUL oh my, that is bush league, Patterson’s call. Bring him out of there Farrell. May be his last game in centre for a while. Rasmus bunting Romero throw to Lind, one down Brown to third. Cruz, bounces to Encarnacion at third but no chance to come home as throw to Lind gets Cruz, two down. Descalso, intentional walk, two on two down for McClellan. 1-2 count, strikes out. Ricky has to do it all himself.

Top 6th: Lind, 2-0 count, that’s better, singles into right centre, Rivera time to make amends to Ricky. Pops it up to shallow right. One down for Encarnacion, singles up the middle Lind running on the pitch all the way to third, finally some hustle. And by Lind. Patterson you get a chance to make up for that gaffe. Guy at third and only one down. Jays 0-5 RISP today. That will do, grounds to first, Berkman throwing to home wild throw over heard of catcher and Lind scores, both runners to second and third on the play. Arencibia intentional walk to load them up for Romero. Bases loaded YES Ricky, slaps it past Berkman, here comes both runner 4-0 Jays. The pitchers love that one, Ricky’s first major league rbi and her gets two of them. Doing it all today. La Russa guess wrong on that one walking to get to him. Escobar singles into right, here comes the runner Arencibia, 5-0 Jays. Hill, with two on and still only one out. 1-0 count, here comes La Russa. End of the day for McClellan. Mitchell Boggs now pitching. 1-2 count on Hill. Strikes out swinging at a pitch six feet down and away off the plate. Bautista, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging but Jays break out here and give a good cushion for Ricky.
Bottom 6th: Theriot leading of 58 pitch count for Romero. A dribbler in front of the mound, Romero throw to Lind, one down. Schumaker, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind for out number two. Holliday. 1-2 count, wild pitch way outside. 2-2 count, oh, hits him on the foot, Ricky losing some control here. Berkman, two down one on, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind and Romero out of trouble.

Top 7th: Boggs still pitching. Lind, fly ball to left, one down for Rivera, doubles to left, Encarnacion, lines it to short, two down for Patterson, intentional walk. Arencibia, huge pop up to shallow centre right to end the inning.
Bottom 7th: 70 pitches for Romero. It would be good to see him have a complete game here. Davis now in for Rivera in left. Johnny Mc. at third. Defence. Farrell wants this win. Brown leading off, strikes out. One down for Rasmus, lines it into right. One on one down for Cruz. High pop up to Davis in centre. Descalso, a nubber in front of the late, Arencibia throw to Lind to end this inning.

Top 8th: Will Romero lead off? Yes, here he comes, he has earned it. Jason Motte now pitching. Takes ball one, like a pro Ricky. Grounds up the line Motte fumbles the ball but recovers in time to throw Romero out at first. Escobar, one down, hope you watched that. That is why you need to hustle up that line whatever the play Yunel... full count, pops it up to second. Two down for Hill, 2-2 count, fly ball to right, he will never learn.
Bottom 8th: Pitch count 81 for Romero. Can he finish it today? Kozma pinch hitting. 3-1 count, ball four inside. Theriot, 1-2 count, Whoa... lines it to Bautista in right but Kozma was running on the pitch and is doubled up easily as he was almost at second. Two down for Schumaker. Fly ball to Davis in centre.

Top 9th: Bautista leading off 0-4 day. Raul Valdes now pitching. full count, singles back up the middle, I didn’t think we would see 0-5 day for Jose. Can Lind now bring him in? Ouch, Valdes hits him on the shoulder, that hurts. Two on for Davis. 1-2 count, swings at a ball way high. One down for McDonald, 3-1 count, high fly ball to right. Runners hold, two down for Patterson, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. Leaves two more out there, not a game Patterson wants to remember. Jays 3-16 with runners in scoring position today.
Bottom 9th: Romero on 93 pitch count... Heart of the Cardinals order. Holliday leading off, 2-2 count, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind, how many times have we seen that today? One down for Berkman, 2-2 count. Lines it off Romero leg to Escobar , Escobar throw is wild as Berkman moves to first. That hurts. Romero staying in there as Frasor warms up in bullpen. Jay pinch running for Berkman. Brown, perfect, grounds to Johnny Mac at third over to second on to Lind for the double pay ending to this game.

Complete game shutout for Ricky. And well earned with bat and ball today. Jays win 5-0 and sweep the Cardinals at home. How many Jays fans would have predicted that happening?
The excellent: Romero does it all today, complete game shutout but his two rbi single in the sixth inning is what he will remember, his first major league hit and obviously his first rbis. Jose in right, great play in the second inning to rob Brown. It seems so crazy to me moving him to third just because of lack of production at third. Wait until Lawrie gets here instead of messing up Jose.

Good: Arencibia home run, good to see him connect again. Escobar two hits.
The awful: Patterson-Rivera dropped ball in the 5th, definitely Patterson at fault, he is in charge out there. We forget how good Vernon was out there until we see such a fiasco. I hope he does not play centre again this season. And we also have to list the runners in scoring position stat. Jays go 3-16 today.

Comerica Park tomorrow for the make up game. Zach Stewart pitching.

Home run power from Rivera and Encarnacion as Jays win behind Villanueva gem

Jays v Cardinals. Game two of three.

After last night’s ninth inning excitement Jays fans are eager for repeat tonight. It was so good to see Jose getting his home run stroke back apart from his work with the glove. We should enjoy whilst we can as he may be at third as soon as Sunday. However it was Eric Thames who was the catalyst both in the first inning and the fifth with doubles to the wall. That has been missing for so long from number two. Farrell has changed the line-up no Thames tonight, Hill is hitting number two, Encarnacion back at third. Even though it may be the very last time we see him out there if Bautista is ready.

Line-ups: Jays: Escobar, Hill, Bautista, Lind, Arencibia, Rivera, Encarnacion, Davis and Villanueva pitching and hitting.
Cards: Theriot, Jay, Holliday, Berkman, Rasmus, Molina, Descalso, Schumaker, and Garcia pitching and hitting.

Top 1st: Escobar, bounces to short, throw to first for one down. Hill, yes he is good and should be higher up BUT has no speed and certainly not a Thames. Full count, ball four, takes the walk. One on one down for Bautista. Singles to centre, Hill moves to third. Lind, 0-2, pitch selection Adam. Strikes out swinging on three pitches, that was one awful at bat by Lind. Arencibia, with two down and two on. Fly ball to left to end the inning. Two left out there in first inning, same old story. Key at bat though was Lind, he owes the team. Sometimes Adam gives the impression his mind is elsewhere.
Bottom 1st: Theriot, full count. Singles to left, one on for Jay, singles first pitch into right, Theriot to third on the play, Villanueva in trouble now these guys perform when runners in scoring position Holliday, grounds to Escobar, throw to Hill over to Lind double play but Theriot scores, 1-0 Cards. Berkman, with two down. Full count. Fly ball to Rivera in left. Could have been a lot worse.

Top 2nd: Rivera, fly ball right, one down for Encarnacion, no chance for double play Edwin relax. Fly ball to centre, two down. Davis grounds to third, throw to first, this is too easy for Garcia.
Bottom 2nd: Rasmus, 2-2 count, bounces to third, Encarnacion throw to Lind, one down. Yadier Molina, pops up to shallow centre for Davis, two down. Descalso pops up to third for Encarnacion. Three up and down for Villanueva. Nice inning.

Top 3rd: Villanueva leading off. 3-1 count, ball four, not exactly what he wants to do stand out there all inning. Escobar best gift would be home run here. 3-1 count, another ball four, two on nobody out for Hill. Come on Aaron help Villanueva out here. He needs a break before pitching next inning. Grounds to second, throw to first to get Hill, Villanueva and Hill move into scoring position for Bautista. Intentional walk, Jose not seeing a pitch here. Bases loaded for Lind. Adam had better get his head into this at bat. 1-2 count, that will do it, fly ball to centre, Villanueva tags and scores 1-1 game. Escobar to third on throw. Arencibia grounds to third, throw to Berkman not in time, throw was high and Berkman had to leap off the bag. Arencibia ruled safe, error to third, but JP may have got away with one, Bautista scores, 2-1 Jays. Rivera two down two on, that’s more like it Juan, Rivera slams this one into left seats, home run, three runs score. 5-1 Jays. Encarnacion fly ball to centre to end the inning but they don’t need Edwin’s at bat this inning at least.
Bottom 3rd: Garcia leading off. strikes out looking, one down for Schumaker hitting in number nine spot. Grounds to Hill, nice diving save and throw from his knees to Lind to get him, two down. Theriot, 2-2 count, fly ball to Bautista in right to end the inning.

Top 4th: Davis grounds to third, throw to first, one down for Villanueva. Strikes out swinging, two down. Escobar, Jays have certainly taken the crowd out of the game, it is SO quiet. 2-2 count. Lines it hard back at Garcia, throw to first, Escobar ambles down to first, come on Escobar, one day the guy at first is going to drop the ball and you will really be shown up. Hustle and heart ?? Not from Yunel.
Bottom 4th: Jay, full count, singles into left, one on for Holliday, lines it very hard but right at Davis in centre, one down for Berkman, pops it up very high to Hill at second, two down. Rasmus, 3-1 count, low, ball four, two on two down for Molina. Full count, singles into left, here comes Jay, 5-2 game. Two down but two on the corners. Descalso, 0-2 count, strikes out on three pitches.

Top 5th: Hill leading off. Just get on base Aaron. That will do, singles into centre. Bautista, lines it hard to centre for the out. One down Lind, Hill going, grounds to first Berkman takes it no chance for two, Hill safe at second. Arencibia with two down and runner in scoring position. Long time since JP went deep. Strikes out swinging. Jays leave another in scoring position, that is three Arencibia has left out there, they can’t keep doing this, it will come back and bite them big-time.
Bottom 5th: Garcia, 0-2 count, grounds to Lind, takes it himself, one down. Schumaker, grounds to Escobar, long throw but not in time. Runner safe at first. Theriot, high fly ball to Davis, two down. Jay, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging to end the inning.

Top 6th: Rivera leading off, grounds to short, long throw but gets Rivera at first, Encarnacion, there we go Edwin, doubles into left field corner. Davis high fly ball to right, Encarnacion tags and gets to third, two down for Villanueva. 1-2 count, way outside, strikes out swinging.
Bottom 6th: Holliday leading off grounds to Encarnacion, throw to Lind for first out. Berkman, grounds back up the middle, but Villanueva makes nice grab, and throw to Lind, two down, nice play Villanueva saves that going into centrefield. Rasmus, full count, fly ball to centre but Davis has to run this one down for third out. Villanueva has done his part tonight.

Top 7th: Escobar leading off, grounds to short, throw to Berkman for first out, Hill, 3-0 count, slow roller up third base line, throw high but Hill long safe at first, one on one down for Bautista. We don’t often see that, lines it to third hard throw to second on to first double play to end the inning.
Bottom 7th: Will we see Villanueva? No that’s it, 96 pitches. Not bad for a long reliever. Jon Rauch, Molina leading off, first pitch fly ball to Bautista in right, one down. Descalso, grounds to Rauch off his leg to Escobar, no chance for throw. Hamilton pinch hitting for Garcia. 0-2 count, lines it right at Hill to make the catch cannot double them up, two down. Schumaker, same play to Hill to make the catch and Rauch does nice job.

Top 8th: Lind leading off, not a great night tonight with the bat at least. Ryan Franklin pitching. Pops it up, great diving catch by Descalso close to the pitching mound. Arencibia, first pitch, awful, grounds to second throw to Berkman two down. Arencibia in deep funk with his bat, thumb or not. Rivera, bounces to short, throw to Berkman for third out. Not a good inning by these free-swinging Jays.
Bottom 8th: Theriot singles up the middle, one on. Jay, ouch, hits him, two on for Holliday. Bullpen working. Why are they so late getting ready ???? This is the eighth inning game on the line. 1-2 count, strikes out looking, one down, not happy, Holliday arguing with umpire and us throw out of the game. Rzepczynski now pitching. Farrell arguing with umpire, sounds as if he wanted to make double switch but umpire asked him to wait until La Russa had finished but as he crossed the line could not make the double switch. Only the pitching change, for double switch he has to go to home plate umpire first, weird rule. Rookie Manager mistake ? Very nice, Berkman grounds to second throw to Lind at first double play ball to end this threat.

Top 9th: Kozma at second. Encarnacion, whoa, Edwin gets hold of all of this one, this one is OUT of here. Edwin??? Home run, 6-2 Jays. Davis grounds to short, throw to first one down. Patterson pinch hitting for the pitcher, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down. Escobar. 1-2 count, pops up to Schumaker playing in right this inning to end this one.
Bottom 9th: Storm is all around with lightning in the distance. Francisco pitching, not a save but was warming up before Edwin hit that home run, everyone has so little confidence in Edwin. Patterson stays in at left. Rasmus leading off, full count. Doubles into right. Don’t go away friends. Molina, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down. Descalso, 1-2 count, singles into left, two on, one down for Andrew Brown pinch hitting for pitcher. Storm getting worse, this could be a factor here now, you do not want a delay. Ran starting and crowd leaving fast, but it is the lightning that is the potential danger. 1-2 count, strikes out, two down for Schumaker, grounds back to Francisco, oh no!! Frank throws it in dirt to Lind and run scores 6-3 Jays. Whoa. That was an easy out, he had lots of time, Error. Theriot now with two on. 0-2 count, Whoa, almost another, grounds back at Francisco, off his glove, but Hill recovers and throw to Lind for third out. That was much too close. Jays win number two 6-3 and the series. Tomorrow Romero and chance for the sweep.

The very good: Rivera comes through with key three run home run. But tonight Villanueva another excellent game for win number five. What a find he has been.
The good: Ironic, just as this might be the last game for Encarnacion he comes through with multi–hit game including home run. He may have bought himself a reprieve for one more game at third, giving Bautista more time to adjust to third. Hill two hits and a great defensive play. Bullpen in support of Villanueva.

Not so good: RISP again but they win which is important tonight.

Lights go out for the Cardinals as Jays win one in the ninth with Jose home run

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Jays v Cardinals. Game one of three.

Another very tough series with the Central Division leaders for the Jays stumbling around on the road. Definitely glad to be out of Atlanta but if they think they have an easy weekend dream on. Jays changes amount to the revolving door for McCoy, poor guy, had to watch Encarnacion at third last game when he could at least have added some speed and hustle to third and I wager he would have had the popup into the dugout. But then so would Johnny Mac and Nix, anyone but Edwin. Alas farewell Mikey, we will see you again this season no doubt. In comes Thames and to make room for him Bautista is supposed to move to third. Must be temporary until Lawrie gets here. We shall see and it is only temporary. BUT, don’t get excited yet, tonight friends we have to watch Edwin yet again at third and Jose in right. They want Jose to get his arm adjusted to third after right field. So it looks like Detroit before the change but surely they will not put Edwin at third for the whole series? Jays do get a break in this series not facing either Pujols or Carpenter who pitched last night.

Line-ups: Jays: Escobar, Thames, Bautista, Lind, Hill, Molina, Encarnacion, Davis and Morrow pitching and of course hitting. Oh boy Edwin again.
Cardinals: No Pujols which is one break for the Jays but this team has lots of talent even without Pujols. For a start Berkman and Holliday. Line-up: Theriot, Jay, Holliday, Berkman, Rasmus, Schumaker, Yadier Molina, and Jake Westbrook pitching and hitting number eight.(La Russa ever the strategist) and hitting number nine is Descalso.

Top 1st: Escobar, singles to left. Thames, full count, grounds to second throw to Theriot back to Berckman at first Thames beats out the throw. More speed. Bautista with one down. Full count, doubles to left, but Thames unable to come through. Lind with two on and in scoring position. That will do for one, grounds to second, here comes Thames 1-0 Jays two down for Hill. Jose to third on the play. Hill, another full count, perfect singles up the middle, here comes Jose, 2-0 Jays. Molina, another full count, Hill running on the pitch and Jose singles into right. Aaron to third. Two on two down for yes Encarnacion. Big chance Edwin. Does his usual, grounds to third, throw to first to end the inning. Leaving two out there. Why, oh why, oh why?
Bottom 1st: Morrow staked to a 2-0 lead to start. Theriot leading off, fly ball to Bautista in right. Jon Jay with one down. 2-2 count, strikes out. Two down. Matt Holliday first pitch grounds to Escobar at short, throw to Lind for the out. Three up and down, nice start for Brandon.

Top 2nd: Davis leading off. 2-2 count, down and away strikes out. One down for Morrow. 2-2 count, bounces to second, throw to Berkman two down for Escobar. Bounces to Theriot, throw to first for third out.
Bottom 2nd: Berkman, 18 home runs this season. Full count, strikes out swinging. One down for Colby Rasmus. There she goes, great swing, no doubt about this one home run to right. 2-1 Jays. Schumaker, singles to centre, going for two and beats throw from Davis. Molina, grounds to Lind, takes it himself, goes to first for second out. Schumaker to third. Westbrook hitting eighth, strikes out looking.

Top 3rd: Thames leading off. Whoa just foul in right field corner. Gets hold of this one and lines it to the wall in centre. Double for Thames. Bautista, drives this one but caught at the wall in left, almost, great swing. Thames stays at second. Lind, this is the guy we want to see hitting again. Horrible swing pops up to third, two down. Hill, 2-2 count, another full count, Aaron didn’t swing at that one outside. Strikes out swinging but that was not a bad at bat for Aaron.
Bottom 3rd”: Descalso, 3-0 count, come on Brandon, ball four, oh boy. Theriot, bunting, great bunt in front of the plate, Morrow takes it away from Molina, but makes the throw, almost another mess-up there. Runner to second, another passed ball, and Descaclso to third. We have seen that before from both Jays catchers. Jay. Fly ball to Davis in centre, here comes Descalso. Two down, 2-2 game. Holliday, full count, singles p the middle, Escobar saves it going into outfield but Hill has no play. Two down one on for Berkman, strikes out. However I think that Morrow is going to need a ton of runs tonight.

Top 4th: Molina, pops it up to Jays in shallow right. One down for Encarnacion, gets hold of this one and doubles to the wall in left centre all the way to the wall. Too bad that was not his first at bat, that would have scored two. Nothing this guy does is ever right, he has to be jinxed somehow. Davis, 2-2 count, grounds back to Westbrook, checks out Edwin and Davis almost beats out the throw. Two down for Morrow. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging but he made him throw five pitches.
Bottom 4th: Rasmus leading off, strikes out this time. Number five for Morrow. Schumaker, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, number six. Two down for Molina, fly ball first pitch to Bautista in right, three up and down for Morrow.

Top 5th: Escobar leading off, lines it to centre, one down for Thames. Doubles it again to the wall right centre. He hits the ball hard, very hard. Bautista, intentional walk by La Russa. Lind now can he come through? 0-2 count, muscles this one into right, here comes Thames, 3-2 Jays. Bautista stops at second on the throw to third. Two on one down. Hill, there we go Aaron pulls it into left, here comes Jose. 4-2 Jays. La Russa gamble didn’t pay off this time but I still do not want to play chess with him. Still two on and one down. Molina, Pitching coach out there. Grounds it up the middle Jays load the bases and that is it tonight for Westbrook. 100 pitches and not surprising after the long first inning. Edwin has another chance to be our hero tonight. Bases loaded and one down, don’t even mention that word. Mitchell Boggs now pitching. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, what did we expect? Edwin has left five on base already and it is only half way through the game. Davis, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Pathetic.
Bottom 5th: Hamilton pinch hitting for Boggs, strikes out swinging, number seven for Morrow. Descalso, 1-2 count, strikes out looking, number eight. Two down for Theriot, pops it up to Bautista in shallow right. Another good inning for Morrow.

Top 6th: Morrow has to lead off here. Lance Lynn pitching. Grounds to second throw to Berkman, one down for Escobar. Full count, grounds to short, throw to Berkman at first two down for the hot Thames. Eric two doubles tonight, strikes out swinging.
Bottom 6th: Jay leading off. Lines it inside the line past Lind into right, leadoff double. Holliday, 1-2 count, drives it into Jays bullpen, 4-4 game. That is called hitting with runners in scoring position. (Note to Jays hitters). Berkman. 1-2 count, strikes out, one down for Rasmus, pops up to Encarnacion at third, two down. Schumaker, bounces to Hill, throw to Lind to end the inning but Jays failure to bring in the runners has hurt them one again.

Top 7th: Bautista, La Russa has to pitch to him this time. Lynn, 1-2 count, bounces to short, throw to Berkman, one down for Lind, slow bouncer to second, throw to Berkman, two down. Hill, two hit night. Grounds to short, throw to Berkman for third out and you can feel this momentum swinging back to the Cardinals.
Bottom 7th: Molina leading off. Drives it hard to Thames in left. One down for pitcher Lynn. 2-2 count, bounces to Encarnacion at third, throw to Lind for second out. Descalso, 2-2 count. OH WOW Jose... Descalso lines it to shallow right, Jose makes a great catch running flat out, MVP play. And this glove is to be wasted at third ?

Top 8th: Molina leading off, Lynn still out there. 3-0 count, full count, ball four. Here comes Encarnacion, trouble follows this guy around. Full count, takes strike three, well look at it this way Edwin stays out of his usual ground ball double play so perhaps he saved one out. Patterson pinch hitting for Davis, Nix pinch running for Molina. 0-2 count, Corey comes through singles into left centre, and Nix all the way to third. Two on one down for Rivera, pinch hitting for Morrow. Pops it up to short in shallow left. Two down for Escobar. 2-2 count, there goes Patterson and no throw as he steals second. Grounds to short, throw to first to end this inning and also deprive Morrow of a well earned win. Not tonight Brandon.
Bottom 8th: Frasor now pitching. Arencibia now catching. Theriot, lines it to Patterson now playing centre. One down for Jay, pops up to Thames in left, two down for Holliday, 2-0 count, Frasor being cautious here with Holliday. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. Nice inning Jason.

Top 9th: The big guys at bat. Thames leading off. Lights have gone out above first base. Game is halted. Everybody off. What a time for this to happen. Now they are back on. Salas now pitching. 2-2 count, Drives it to Rasmus in left centre, one down for Bautista. Yes Jose, gets hold of this one bigtime, lines this one into right field bullpen. Opposite field home run. Number 23 for Jose. 5-4 Jays. Lind, high fly ball to Holliday. Hill, grounds to short, throw to Berkman. But Jays take the lead again, can they hold it?
Bottom 9th: Francisco pitching, hang on friends. Johnny Mac at third. Berkman leading off. 3-1 count, we have been here before with Frank. Bounces to Lind to step on base for the out. One down for Rasmus. Lines first pitch to Bautista in right. Two down for Schumaker, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. Finally Jays win one on the road and in NL park. Frasor gets the win although Morrow earned it.

The excellent: Bautista with bat and glove again tonight. His game winning home run in the top of the ninth, intentional walk and double, three runs and a superb catch in right, this guy does it all. Maybe just maybe his home run swing is back.
The good: Definitely Morrow, great outing just not good enough. Thames, first game back in the majors, two strong doubles to the wall in right centre. Hill two hits. Lind came through and also give Francisco some credit for closing down the side with three up and down in the ninth.
The terrible: Another disappointing display with runners in scoring position (4-15) which ruined Morrow`s chances for the win but at least he kept them in the game. Edwin leaves six out there. How much longer.
Postscript: Yankees and Boston both lose tonight so good win for the Jays but long way to go.

Post-mortems

Jays have almost 48 hours to wonder what is going wrong with the team.

Notwithstanding Rick Romero’s words of truth a few days ago. But today several readers of this blog have been sending me positive messages which we need to remind ourselves.
This team is in a re-building mode and was never considered to beat such heavyweights as Atlanta, Phillies, Boston and the Yankees, this season. Alex A. made it very clear that 2012 was the year to compete.

They have over the last couple of seasons lost Halladay, Burnett, Marcum, Downs (and very surprising, Seattle closer with 20 saves Brandon League?). That is a lot of pitching quality. Every Jays fan would want those five back in the pitching staff, well maybe not Burnett. But buying in to “the plan”, their replacements are young, will be around for many years (barring injury) and three of the starting rotation are in Vegas or rehab half way through the season.

On the other side the hitters apart from Jose who is a league of his own and Lind, very little has been offered. Hill, Arencibia, Encarnacion, Rivera, Davis, Nix, Molina, Patterson, McDonald, McCoy is not a very intimidating line-up against any team.
They have lost against the worst, the Astros, they have been hammered by the best the Red Sox. They have been swept by the NL best Atlanta, and may well do so against the Phillies next weekend.

But it is definitely not all gloom. Brett Lawrie on the verge of making the team, Snider will be back, Bautista and Lind have given us lots of hope for the heart of the order. Escobar with his glove at least has been very good; his leadoff hitting has been suspect too many times. For me Rajai Davis is a key part of this team. We tend to forget that exciting period at the beginning of the season when it seemed that he was always on base, and stealing second and third. That was an exciting glimpse of the speed future of this team. Jays fans will love watching Anthony Gose when he arrives with his speed, Lawrie is a rocket. Cooper, Loewen, Thames and Heccaverria. The minor league teams for the Jays are full of great talent.

Cecil should be back soon, and amazingly we may yet see Dustin McGowan in Toronto this season even if it is September. Maybe Litsch and Drabek will get back and Villanueva can go back to long relief. Along with Lopez these two have been a positive pitching experience. Yes the gaps still remain in closer, but again Francisco recently has shown signs of showing why he was brought to Toronto. The bullpen for the most part has been excellent Apart from one stretch where they were clearly overworked because the starters could not give them a break. The last week has been a turnaround and the starters are all going deep which has given the bullpen a break. Now the hitting has gone south and with a vengeance but we know it will come back. Bautista home run yesterday, followed three hard hit balls to the track and walls. Lind has shown that he has his 2009 form despite his recent slump.

But for the others ??? 3 runs in the last 36 innings is really sad. Encarnacion, last night’s game had three opportunities at third base. Two of which he messed up. Hill, is totally confused out there, unable to get his pitch selection correct and going to the opposite field and centre and ignoring his strength to left.

Catching is another story, more than one correspondent has mentioned this. Two nights ago Zach Stewart throwing five consecutive fast balls to McCann before he hit the last one into right for two runs. This has to be Molina responsibility. Stewart is a rookie and needs Molina experience in calling the game.
Passed balls ad nauseam this season with both Arencibia and Molina guilty. Arencibia now his hitting has gone. He is unable as with Hill to and one of the biggest offenders with first pitch outs. He seemed to be adjusting a few weeks ago but has reverted to his early season confusion. We have to hope that he will make the adjustments and use this season to improve.

But many emailers are saying that the wild swinging at first pitches, poor pitch selection, and pitching, does not hurt as much as the lack of aggressive play by the Jays that they showed earlier in the season and made them so attractive to watch.

As long Jays fan Carole tells me “the Jays are boring to watch” right now and she has hit it on the head. So please Mr. Farrell, bring back that great aggressive play and please, please, please sit Edwin….. It is agony to watch him out there. The dropped pop up in the bullpen yesterday was capped by his request to get a bigger glove… Oh boy.

We know they are not going to win the World Series this season but you can make them attractive to watch. If the hitting goes south, improvise, and use that NL small ball approach you had earlier in the season.

Jays give no run support to Reyes and swept in Atlanta despite Bautista heroics

Jays v Braves series finale.
Jays looking to avoid a sweep here.
Interesting comment from respondent about role of Molina last night calling five straight fast balls on McCann before he hit it into right seats for that two run home run. Experienced catcher, rookie pitcher, who is calling whom? My vote is that Molina is in charge especially with a rookie.

Line-ups: Jays: Escobar, Patterson, Bautista, Lind, Rivera, Arencibia, Hill, Nix and Reyes pitching and hitting. Farrell listened to me. Hill down the order, will he respond?
Braves: Schafer, Heyward, Jones, McCann, Freeman, Uggla, McLouth, Lugo, Beachey.

Top 1st: Escobar that’s better singles into centre. One on for Patterson. Bunting ? showing it anyway. There goes Yunel, I don’t blame him, not waiting to see if Patterson can hit here. Wild pitch into the seats so Escobar safe at second. 2-2 count. This is only the third stolen base for Escobar hard to believe that but that aggressive running game has not been part of Jays since early May. Patterson strikes out. Bautista. Good Escobar distracting the pitcher at second. Down and away. Jose strikes out swinging. Lind, strikes out.
Bottom 1st: Schafer, grounds it inside third base line past a diving Nix, safe at second. Heyward, strikes out swinging, one down. Jones, pops up to Hill, almost had an adventure on that one with Hill last minute grab. McCann, bounces back to Reyes, throw to Lind for third out. Very nice pitching after that leadoff double.

Top 2nd: Rivera, singles into centre. One on for Arencibia, first pitch fly ball to centre. Hill, ball in the dirt, Rivera moves up to second. We have been here before in first inning. 3-1 count, ball four. Two on for Nix, 2-2 count, Nix laying off the pitches outside. Not that one, strikes out swinging. Two down for Reyes. Strikes out swinging. Two more left on base. Common refrain for this Jays team all season long.
Bottom 2nd: Freeman, full count, lines it under diving Lind into right. This is like last night’s game seeing eye hits. Uggla, drives this one, no doubt about it, into right field seats, just like that 2-0 Braves. McLouth, grounds to Hill, throw to Lind, one down. Lugo, grounds to Escobar, throw not in time, again just like last night. Beachey, bunting gets it down and throw to Lind two down for Schafer runner at second. 2-2 count, lines it very hard but right at Lind for third out.

Top 3rd: Escobar, lines it hard and high to right, but caught by Heyward at the track. One down for Patterson, strikes out at head high ball, awful. Two down for Bautista. HAMMERS this one, no doubt about this into left field seats, HOME RUN Jose... Number 22. Yessirreee. Vote Jose. You could see this coming last night when his three hits were close to the fences. He was honing in. 2-1 Braves. Lind, strikes out but you know everyone on that bench is sighing with relief over Jose breaking his home run drought.
Bottom 3rd: Heyward, 3-1 count, ball four, not what we want to see to start off the inning. Jones, fly ball to Patterson in centre, one down for McCann. Wild pitch to the backstop, Heyward up to second. 2-1 to McCann. Oh Boy, drives this one into right, over head of Bautista into the seats, just like last night, two run home run. 4-1 Braves. Freeman, grounds to Nix, throw to Lind, two down. Uggla, grounds to Nix, throw to Lind for third out.

Top 4th: Rivera leading off. Pops up to second. Arencibia, strikes out swinging, two down. Hill, full count, singles into left. Good boy keep pulling into left. Nix, everyone swinging at that ball down and away. Lay off the thing. Please. 1-2 count. Good, Nix lays off the next two. 2-2 count, strikes out. Number nine ! for Beachey. Career high !
Bottom 4th: McLouth leading off, 1-2 count, pops up to Escobar, Lugo grounds to Nix, throw to Lind, two down. Beachey. Grounds to Hill, throw to Lind, three up and down, first time this game for Reyes.

Top 5th: Reyes leading off, strikes out swinging, number ten for Beachey and new career high. Escobar, full count, pops up to Freeman at first, two down for Patterson, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging for the third time.
Bottom 5th: Schafer, great play by Patterson as he lines it to centre, nice catch Corey. One down for Heyward, ball four, one on for Jones. Pitch count 75 for Jo Jo. Fly ball to Bautista in right, two down. McCann, bunting Reyes has it and throw to Lind for third out.

Top 6th: Jays need some runs and fast. Bautista leading off. Pops up a mile high to short, one down for Lind. 3-0 count, takes it down the middle, Lind always does that at 3-0, ball four. That’s ok if the people behind him are hitting. Rivera. 3-1, now Jays are laying off that pitch outside. A little late maybe. Grounds to Jones at third, throw to second on to first, double play ball. Even when they get someone on base Jays unable to do anything. This is one demoralised side, you can see it in their body language. Time for the Manager to shake it up big-time.
Bottom 6th: Freeman, full count, strikes out swinging, one down for Uggla. That’s it for Jo Jo. 84 pitches and only five hits. He has done his bit but once again you cannot win many games with one run. Now pitching Camp. Uggla strikes out looking, two down. McCann grounds to Lind, takes it himself for the out.

Top 7th: Arencibia leading off, long time since we were excited about JP and his hitting. That’s it for Beachey big pitch count with all the strikeouts, that is the downside and one that Halladay always used to say, he preferred putting the ball in play for that very reason. Linebrink now pitching, Arencibia singles it into left. Can they take advantage ? Hill, 3-1 count, lines it to McLouth in left to make the catch. One down one on for Nix. No Encarnacion it is. Always an adventure with Edwin. Pop up, or double play ground ball. Grounds it off the glove of Linebrink to second, no chance to get Arencibia, throw to first two down. Molina pinch hitting for Camp. 0-2 count, strikes out. What can we say? Yet another leadoff left out there.
Bottom 7th: Jon Rauch now pitching. Encarnacion at third ? Ok. Lugo, lucky lucky, grounds to first, Rauch misses it but Hill shovels it to Lind for the out. One down for pinch hitter Conrad. Full count. Pop up into dugout Edwin cannot make the catch, now asks for a bigger glove, that is very funny Edwin, but he is serious. Manager Farrell may wish he had not pinch hit Nix because you know that anyone but Edwin would have made that catch. Nix, Johnny Mac and McCoy would have been over that wall. That was catchable ball. Conrad WOW.... lines it to right, bounces off the wall, relay throw in to third called out on the play. Manager asks for review and home run called 5-1 Braves. Always Edwin involved somehow. Schafer, YES Jose, same play but this time Jose gets it off the top of the wall, incredible catch, that was a home run. Highlight reel for the season. MVP play. Two down. Heyward, strike out swinging.

Top 8th: Jonny Venters now. Escobar, grounds to Jones throw to first tags him out, Patterson. No Davis pinch hitting, bounces one to second and beats out the throw speed where has it been? Missing far too long. Bautista 1-2 count, way outside, Jose not even looking at it. Same again, full count. ball four, nowhere near the plate. Lind now, time for a big one Adam. Grounds first pitch to first, both runners move up. Two down. Rivera, can he do the job? full count, inside ball four, bases loaded. Arencibia, if ever a time for a bomb, this is it JP. But even a single would be something. You had one last at bat. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, down and away chorus. Jays are now 4-30 runners in scoring position. OUCH.
Bottom 8th: Perez closing it down. Davis stays in centre for Patterson. Jones leading off. 2-2 count, bounces to Encarnacion at third, throw to Lind, one down for McCann, shift right, Edwin at short, hmmm bounces to Encarnacion, bounces over his glove, safe at first. Edwin attracts trouble. No error given but with a four run lead scorer being very charitable to Encarnacion. Freeman, fly ball to Rivera in left, two down. Uggla, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging on three pitches.

Top 9th: Last crack at it for the Jays before they are swept out of Atlanta and now on a four game losing streak with no glimmer of hope with this style of play. Something or somebody has to go. Kimbrel in to finish it off, no messing around in Atlanta. Hill, 2-2 count, pops up to centre, one down. Encarnacion, pops it up to shallow right, two down. McDonald pinch hitting for pitcher. Pops it up to short,

Jays agony is over for a day or so at least. Swept ignominiously

Braves get their hits with runners on, Jays with no one on. Two run difference. Not much more Farrell can do with this line-up. He has to make changes or continue the embarrassment in St. Louis. It will be interesting to see if Alex has something to say.

Exceptional: Bautista with bat and glove. Jose is just in another zone compared to the rest of the team.
Not so good: Always Edwin somehow. But who put him in at third? Farrell has to take responsibility.
The terrible: Jays hitters now 4-30 RISP. Three runs in 39 innings. Action needed Alex and before Friday. This team is going to look so very different after the All Star break.

Jays hitters continue their futility and providing no support to rookie Stewart

Jays v Braves. Game two of three.

Is Ricky right?
Lambasting his teammates for lack of offence to support pitching staff. Of course he is, the offence is absolutely awful. Don’t look for any changes today, Manager Farrell (who has to take some flak here) has a terrible line-up out there tonight. He has to move the lineup around. Move Patterson and Hill down or out, and I would also change Escobar as leadoff. But it is clear that Bautista and Lind cannot keep carrying this team. And as we are seeing when they need a break nobody else is stepping up to provide any consistent offence.

Lineups: Jays: Escobar, Patterson, Bautista, Lind, Hill, Molina, Davis, McCoy, Zach Stewart pitching and hitting for the first time.
Braves: Schafer, Heyward, Jones, McCann, Freeman, Uggla, Gonzalez, McLouth and Mike Minor pitching:

Top 1st: Escobar, bunting?, pops up fortunately foul. 0-2 count, 2-2 count, I am not a fan of Escobar, if I had my way I would push him out of leadoff role. Strikes out. Paterson, lines it to the wall in right centre, slips going around second and has to retreat that was a triple. Bautista, Whoa... gets hold of this one to left, but McLouth right up against the wall to make the catch. Very close to going out. If Patterson had not slipped, he would have been at third and that would be an RBI for Jose. McLouth great catch to rob Jose. Good to see Jose connecting though, we have not seen that this week. Lind, that will do it, singles up the middle and here comes Patterson, 1-0 Jays. Hitters hitting tonight. Hill, another to move down my order, a dribbler to second throw to first for the third out.
Bottom 1st: Schafer 3-1 count, ball four. Stewart not as sharp early tonight. Heyward, 2-0 come on Zach, find that strike zone. 3-0, grounds it past diving Hill, Schafer to third on the play. Jones with two on and nobody out. Pops up to shallow centre, Davis Schafer tags and scores easily, would not have done that on Vernon. One down but game is tied up. Heyward stays at first. McCann 2-0 count, Stewart having terrible time out there, 3-0 count, Heyward going, throw gets him, Stewart gets a break finally, two down, full count, McCann to right, two on. Finding the holes in Jays defence all over the field. 24 pitches. Uggla, with two on. Finally a hit to a player, right at Escobar, throw to Hill for third out. Braves Manager would not be happy with only one run there. Send six to the plate and could only score one. That sounds like the Jays hitters. Zach will take it anyway any day.

Top 2nd: Jays offence turn now. We can dream. Molina, strikes out swinging on a ball way up and away out of the zone. Davis (first pitch) liner to right field, two down. Four pitches. McCoy, ah well. Grounds back to Minor throw to first and Jays go pathetically on seven, yes seven pitches. There is NO offence in this line-up after Lind tonight.
Bottom 2nd: Feel sorry for Stewart, what time did he get to regroup? And he also has to think about his leading off next inning. Pops up to Bautista, fortunately Jose calls off Hill as he was circling around out there. One down McLouth, 0-2 count, oh boy, just not his night, a dribbler, ball that barely stays inside third base line but safe at first, Minor, bunting, 0-2 count, strikes out, two down. Schafer, 0-2 count, lines it to Davis in centre, great inning for Zach. Much better. Throwing strikes and getting balls hit to fielders instead of seeing-eye balls into the outfield.

Top 3rd: Now he has to bat. 1-1, that was a nice cut sending it into right field seats but foul. 1-2 count, strikes out looking, now he can get a break I hope. Escobar, 2-0 count, another break lines it to first down the line, past diving Freeman for a double. Patterson. 2-2 count, way outside, full count, grounds to second, throw to first for the second out. Escobar moves to third. Bautista, lines it all the way to centre, but not enough again. Must be so frustrating.
Bottom 3rd: Heyward, pops it up to Escobar behind second base bag. Jones, grounds it past Lind at first. Stewart not getting much help from his defence tonight. That was a playable ball. McCann, no doubt about this one, hammers it over head of Bautista in right, two run home run and Braves are out ahead 3-1. Freeman, ball four. Wild pitch and moves to second, nothing and I repeat nothing going right for Stewart tonight. Grounds to Escobar, throw to third, gets Freeman sliding in, two down. Gonzalez, grounds it past McCoy at third, here comes runner, throw not in time scores 4-1 Braves throw to third to get Gonzalez try for three, crazy play by Gonzalez out by a mile.

Top 4th: Jays need some offence and also need to help Stewart out here on the defence, awful catcher and the infield. When was the last time this offence scored more than one run in an inning??? It seems like weeks. Lind, one who has sunk out of sight this week. That’s better singles up the middle. One on for Hill, his bat has been missing all season. Takes a ball right down the middle? and another, strikes out looking, didn’t take his bat off his shoulder. He is just lost out there. Molina, hammers this one to the left field wall but with Jays luck tonight off the wall and Lind was waiting and can only get to third. Takes some risks you guys, where oh where is that aggressive play of April May? Davis with two in scoring position. 0-2 count, swings at a ball half way to first, pathetic. Two down. McCoy intentional walk to load the bases for Stewart. I don’t think Zach will do a Hudson here but it would be something if he did. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, he had more swings than Hill and Davis had. That was one disgusting show.
Bottom 4th: McLouth, 0-2 count, strikes out, one down for Minor, doubles to right. Yes you read right, Minor the pitcher. Schafer, the only advantage is to keep Minor standing out there as long as possible, singles to left centre, two on for Heyward, Minor at third. Singles back up the middle, Minor scores 5-1 Braves. Jones with two on, grounds to first, Jones out no chance for double play, ball rolling too slow, and this is the luck Stewart has had all night long. Two in scoring position for McCann, intentional walk to load them up for Freeman. Here comes the Manager and that is it for Stewart but I don’t see this as a lousy outing, he didn’t pitch well but he had NO help at all from Hill, Lind and Molina with their fielding. Ground balls were dribblers, base hits were seeing eyes. Plus of course he had the usual terrible offence that did not help him one iota tonight. If he had five or six run support it would now be as much pressure on him. Rzepczysnki now pitching. Freeman, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging on three pitches. Braves leave the bases loaded, Manager will not like that, that is the second time they have not come through. Not complaining tonight.

Top 5th: New game. Escobar, full count, grounds to second, throw to first for the out. Patterson, strikes out swinging chasing ball in the sky. Bautista, two down. Throw way inside, Minor a little erratic here or just pushing Jose off the plate, another long fly ball out, third one tonight for Jose. He is hitting them, just not his usual blasts.
Bottom 5th: Uggla leading off, grounds to Hill, throw to Lind, one down. Gonzalez, 0-2 count, 2-2 two pitches way outside by Rzepczynski. Grounds weakly to Rzepczynski, throw to Lind for the out. McLouth, lines to Patterson in left to end this one.
Top 6th: Lind leading off, 2-2 tonight, but not so good with his glove. Lines this one to right, but as with Jose these are all falling short of going out. Hill, Nothing tonight with bat or glove, grounds weakly and I mean very weakly to first, for the out. Two down for Molina, strikes out.

Bottom 6th: Minor leading off. Not even trying to bunt here, Rzepczynski shows him some real heat blowing him away on three pitches. Schafer. Bunting first pitch to McCoy now that is speed, Mike pounces on it, calls Rzepczynski off and throw to Lind, Schafer is only halfway to the bag. Surprise. Heyward, bounces to Escobar, throw to Lind, easy three up and down for Jays. Now if they could only hit ?
Top 7th: Davis, grounds to third, throw beats him at first, one down for McCoy. High fly ball to centre, two down. Encarnacion pinch hitting for Rzepczynski, fly ball to right. Oh dear Edwin. But you are not alone tonight, your team-mates are just as bad if not worse.
Bottom 7th: Frasor now pitching. Rzepczynski did a good job. Jones leading off. 2-2 takes strike three looking, froze him. Blew it past him. Chipper’s reflexes fading with age. McCann, 0-2 pop up to Davis, two down. Freeman, 0-2 count, takes strike three looking, nice pitching Jason.

Top 8th: Top of Jays order, if they can’t get something this inning they do need help. Escobar leading off. That’s it for Minor, they are not risking him another inning or complete game here. O’Flaherty now pitching. 2-2 count, grounds to short, throw to first one down for Patterson. No, Rivera is pinch hitting. Farrell’s patience running out for Patterson. 3-1 count, grounds to Gonzalez, throw to first for second out. Bautista who hit Minor very hard all three times with no luck. Pulls it to third, throw to first for the out. Not Jose’s night or week for that matter.
Bottom 8th: Dotel now pitching. Rivera stays in game in left. Uggla full count, pops up to Davis in shallow centre, almost misjudged that one. Wind must have taken it. Gonzalez, 0-2 count, singles to Rivera in left, just fair of the line. McLouth, pops it up to Escobar, two down. Look who is here, ex-Jay Eric Hinske pinch hitting. And still hitting them out with eight home runs already. 3-0 count, full count, strikes out swinging this time.

Top 9th; Final chance for Jays hitters. Let’s see if they even try. Hustle and heart, not much of that on this team recently. Jonny Venters pitching. Lind, 2-2 count, grounds to first throw to Venters for first out. Hill, his usual first pitch bounces back to Venters throw to first, Hill does not even bother to run at speed. There is no way Jays can bring him back next season and he is playing as if he knows it. It will be interesting to see if Farrell sits him tomorrow. He has Johnny Mac and Nix on the bench and both, yes both can provide more hustle than Hill right now. Molina last chance. Grounds back up the middle, throw to first for the final out and end this agony.
Jays hitters are definitely at rock bottom, they cannot blame Stewart for that. And worse still when they did get runners on base, they could not execute to bring the runners in.

Good: Hard to find tonight but that play by McCoy on the bunt, great anticipation and speed and excution for the out. Patterson double that could have been three. Lind two hits, Jose hit three hard and to the wall and track. And tonight the bullpen shutting Braves down after the 5th. and so doing keeping the Jays in the game but alas no hitting.

The not so good: Seeing eye hits, under the gloves of Lind and Hill, passed ball under the glove of Molina. Hill diving all over the place to no avail. No offence in support of Stewart, Lind poor base running, no aggressive on base play tonight. Poor hitting with runners in scoring position.
All of these on their own are not significant but add them all together and you get the picture of a very poor average team tonight and also at this moment, and add up to another very poor outing by Jays in support of Stewart tonight.

Jays hitters no-show for Romero

Jays v Braves Game one of three.

Braves chasing the Phillies in the East. No quarter given to the Jays tonight and indeed in the series. Tonight they face Hudson, one of the best.

Line-ups Jays: Escobar, Patterson, Bautista, Lind, Hill, Arencibia, Davis, Nix and Romero hitting and pitching.
Braves: Schafer, Gonzalez, Heyward, Freeman, Uggla, Ross, Hernandez, McLouth, and Hudson hitting and pitching.

Top 1st: Escobar leading off, grounds to Gonzalez at short, throw to Freeman at first,one down for Patterson, strikes out swinging, nowhere near the ball. Bautista two down. 2-2 count, down and away Jose not biting on that one. Full count. Grounds back up the middle throw to first for third out.
Bottom 1st: Schafer leading off, singles back up the middle, Ex-Jay Gonzalez, Schafer running, Romero picking him off, throw to Lind on to Escobar, one down. Grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind two down. Two pitches two outs. Heyward, 2-2 count, this is trouble lines it to right. Double for Hayward, two down one on for Freddie Freeman, 1-2 count, great pitch by Romero, strikes him out swinging to end the first.

Top 2nd: Lind, 2-2 count, grounds it very hard to first off the glove of Freeman and Lind safe at first. Error on Freeman. Hill, 2-2 count, ball three down and away, Aaron not biting on those pitches, strikes out swinging. One down for Arencibia. Lines first pitch into left corner, but only a single. Two on one down for Davis, first pitch, pops it up to first, that was a horrible at bat, your job is to get on base Rajai, two down for Nix, 1-2 count, pops up to shallow right for third out. Jays leave two out there wasting early opportunity to get out ahead.
Bottom 2nd: Dan Uggla, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging over that one. One down for Ross, grounds first pitch to Escobar, throw to Lind, two down. Hernandez, 3-0 count, not good, ball four. One on two down for Nate McLouth, 2-2 count, there goes the runner, Arencibia drops the ball, runner Hernandez safe at second. Full count. McLouth grounds to Hill, shovels it to Lind to end the inning, no damage done this time.

Top 3rd: Romero grounds first pitch to short, throw to first, one down for Escobar. Oh boy, first pitch grounds to short, throw to first, two pitches two outs. Escobar will he ever learn? Patterson, not much better, grounds second pitch back to Hudson, throw to first, four pitches three outs, tell me that that is good hitting. Hudson loves it... Romero probably has not sat down yet.
Bottom 3rd: Hudson, 1-2 count, bounces back to Romero, throw to Lind, first out. Top of the order Schafer, bunting up the first base line, but Romero quick off the bag and throw to Lind gets him two down. Gonzalez with two down, high fly ball to Patterson in left for third out.

Top 4th: This game is moving along VERY fast so far at least. Bautista leading off, 0-2 count, grounds to Gonzalez at short, throw to first one down. Lind, takes third strike, two down for Hill, 0-2 count, feeble swing at third strike to end this one. This Jays team tonight are sleepwalking or something worse.
Bottom 4th: Heyward grounds to Lind, throw to Romero for first out. Freeman fly ball to Bautista in right, two down. Uggla, grounds slow roller to Nix at third, throw not in time and Uggla safe at first. Ross, 3-0 count, full count, ball four, two on two down for McLouth. 3-1 count, Romero having trouble getting this third out. Fly ball to Patterson in left. Why is it that Patterson never seems to realise that there are three outs?

Top 5th: One hour for first four innings. These teams are racing along here. Time for Jays hitters to get on base and slow it down. Arencibia, strikes out swinging, Hudson has the Jays number tonight. Davis, full count, strikes out swinging. Nix, grounds to third, throw to first for the out. It will be so good to get Lawrie back and Nix back in Vegas, he has not been the same since that injury.
Bottom 5th: McLouth leading off grounds first pitch to Escobar, throw to Lind, one down for Hudson. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, Ricky wasted a lot of pitches on that at bat as Hudson fouled several off. Top of the order Schafer with two down. Strikes out swinging. Number four for Ricky.

Top 6th: Romero has to lead off. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging but it took six pitches, Ricky will be ok with that at bat. Escobar, grounds to short, throw to first for the second out. Patterson, 2-2 count, grounds to short, throw to first to end this inning. Jays hitters unable to solve Hudson tonight and you can sense how this one is going to end.
Bottom 6th: Gonzalez leading off, 3-1 count, this one is trouble, doubles to the wall in left centre. One in scoring position and nobody out. Romero in deep here. Heyward, 2-0, you can’t do this to Heyward Ricky, he will burn you big-time. 3-1, grounds to Nix, looks Heyward back to second, throw to Lind for first out. Freeman, whoa, hits him in the back. That pitch was way inside. Two on, one down for Uggla. John you need the bullpen to start up. 2-0 count, Romero has lost it for the moment here. NOW that is more like it, grounds to Nix, steps on third to get Gonzalez and throw to first to get Uggla, double play. Perfect timing for Romero who was beginning to look lost out there.

Top 7th: Time for the hitters to do their part for Ricky. Bautista leading off. Way inside, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for Lind. Grounds to Gonzalez at short, throw to first two down for Hill. Hopeless, first pitch grounds to third, throw to first. Jays are throwing in the white flag early tonight. This is a pitiful hitting display. Hudson may well have Cy Young stuff tonight but all the more reason to battle him as opposed to giving up on the first pitch.
Bottom 7th: Ross leading off. Grounds to Escobar, great diving play but throw wild of first. Runner safe at second. This is like last inning; you can’t keep rolling the dice with this team. McLouth Grounds to Lind, Ross moves to third on the play, one down. Hernandez, good, grounds to Escobar coming home on the play and out at home plate is two down one at first. Hudson, oh boy, pulls this one into left field seats, two run home run. 2-0 Atlanta. Romero shell shocked, he just served it up on a platter right down the middle and left it hanging there. Schafer fly ball to Davis in centre, to end the inning but this should be enough to beat this team tonight who have not looked as if they can score one let alone two.

Top 8th: Well let’s see what this team is made of tonight, so far jelly. Arencibia leading off. 2-2 count, grounds to Gonzalez throw to first, one down and only five more at bats left for the Jay tonight to try to get back in this one. Davis, grounds to Gonzalez, throw to first, two down. Encarnacion pinch hitting for Nix. Might as well, even Edwin can do now worse tonight. Grounds to second throw to first and Jays unable to get a ball out of the infield let alone score.
Bottom 8th: Luis Perez now pitching to finish this one off. McCoy in at third. Gonzalez leading off. 3-1 ball four, one on for Heyward, grounds to Lind, throw to Hill no chance for two. Freeman, strikes out swinging. Two down for Uggla. That’s it for Perez, Camp now pitching. 1-2 count, there goes Heyward and safe on the throw. 2-2 count, Fly ball to Patterson in left to end the inning.

Top 9th: Last chance for the Jays tonight. McCoy ball four, leadoff walk, that will do. Escobar, grounds it up the middle Gonzalez unable to corral it and both runners safe, interesting, two on nobody out and that is it for Hudson, Jays get some moral satisfaction here to see him out of the game. However Jays still have to bring them in, they have the right people coming up. Craig Kimbrel now pitching 19 saves good luck guys. Showing bunt, 0-2 what a waste, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. Bautista now, can Jose break out here? Ball one in the dirt. 1-2, takes strike three. Lind last chance here. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. Three chances to bring one in, that about sums up tonight, very disappointing game. Jays had their chances. Romero blew his.

The not so good: In addition to the 9th. Escobar and Patterson in the 3rd, three pitches two outs, bush league. Romero, has to learn that every at bat is crucial, he did not pitch well and escaped danger most of the night. Left a fat one out there for Hudson to make him pay. If he learned from the experience good. Jays hitters ??? Don’t know where they were tonight. Bautista and Lind now both in their mini-slumps.
The good: Some good defense by Nix for the double play, Escobar, but that was it. The good news is that this team can only get better but it may be after the All-Star break before we see it.

Tough news for Travis Snider getting hit on helmet at weekend and concussion symptoms. This team needs him back if only to bench Patterson.