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.