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.
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