Francisco blows another as Jays come close with Jose home run

Canada Day Phillies v Jays.

Halladay and the Phillies major series for the Jays, this could be rough three games for the Jays, anything else will be a plus against this team. Today huge Canada Day crowd looks like a sell-out, Jays have plenty of noisy support, will they give the fans something to cheer about?

Line-ups: Phillies: Rollins, Polonco, Utley, Howard, Victorino, Francisco, Brown, Ruiz, Valdez, and Kendrick pitching.
Jays: Escobar, Thames, Bautista, Lind, Encarnacion, Rivera, Arencibia, Davis, McDonald and Romero pitching.

Top 1st: Rollins leading off, full count, ball four. Polonco, 2-0 Ricky losing the zone here. 3-1 count, another full count, fly ball out to Thames in right, Rollins has to retreat to first. One down for Chas Utley, pops up to Arencibia, two down. Howard, fly ball to Davis in centre. Romero struggled through that but he did it without damage.
Bottom 1st: Escobar leading off, Kendrick hits him on the hand, this is not good, going off the field. Hill on as pinch runner. Thames lines first pitch to right, one down. Bautista, drives it to centre and oh dear bounces over the wall crowd loved that as Jose gets ground rule double. BUT it stopped Hill from scoring. Lind now with two in scoring position and this is Jays Achilles heel, unable to bring runners home in this situation. Lind does it again, feeble pop up to short, Lind is really struggling in this cleanup role. Encarnacion, there we go Edwin, easy isn’t it lines it to left, here comes both runners 2-0 Jays. Rivera with one in scoring position two down fly ball to Francisco in left. Jays come out hitting against Kendrick but have lost Escobar for the game.

Top 2nd: Victorino, lines single into left, Francisco, this is trouble doubles into centre, here comes Victorino. 2-1 Jays. Dominic Brown grounds to Lind, throw to Romero for the out but Francisco to third. One down with runner at third. Ruiz, grounds back to Romero, helps himself here, great reflex stab at the ball and throw to first for second out. Valdez, two down and runner at third. 3-1 count, ball four. Romero definitely not at his sharpest today and he is piling up the pitch count. Rollins, lucky Romero as he hits first pitch to Davis in centre for third out. Romero needs to tighten up here, he will not get many chances against this Phillies side.
Bottom 2nd: Arencibia, grounds to Utley at second throw to Howard, drops the ball. Error to Howard and Arencibia safe at first, and that is why you need to run these out. Davis, grounds to second throw to Rollins back to Howard double play ball. Johnny Mac. Full count. Johnny Mac fouling them off her making Kendrick work for the out. Singles into left, crowd loves Johnny Mac. Great at bat. Hill lines it to left for third out.

Top 3rd: Polanco, nice pitching gets him looking, one down. Utley, terrible pitch high and hits him on the back. That one got away bigtime. One on one down for Howard. Grounds to Hill, kicks it and runners safe. Error to Hill. Victorino, two on one down. Lines it to centre, here comes the runner, 2-2 game. Hill’s error costing here. You don’t give the Phillies anything. Francisco, strikes out looking, does not like the call but no choice. Two down for Brown. 3-1 count, another ball four. His third walk and this time loads the bases. Ruiz, grounds to short throw to second to get Brown. Romero escapes major damage here but his pitch count is already 67 for three innings work, he will not be around much longer if he continues like this.
Bottom 3rd: Thames, singles to centre, one on for Bautista, oh you don’t often see this, grounds to Valdez at short throw to Utley over to Howard double play. Lind weak grounder to second for the out. What is wrong with Lind and his swing? A very rough patch right now.

Top 4th: Valdez grounds to Bautista throw to Lind, one down. Rollins, 3-1 count, Romero still all over the place, grounds to third, great play by Bautista and throw to get him. Two down. Polonco grounds to McDonald, throw to Lind and three up and down for Romero. He needed that to keep that pitch count down.
Bottom 4th: Encarnacion, strikes out swinging this time. One down for Rivera. Hits him on the elbow. Arenciba, first pitch grounds to first, Rivera to second Arencibia out. Two down. Davis, another first pitch, fly ball to centre to end the inning, two pitches two outs, not good but this is par for this free swinging team. And the opposing teams love it, saves their bullpen especially in game one of the series.

Top 5th: Meantime on the other side of the diamond, the Phillies go deep in the pitch counts and Romero is showing it in his pitch count in the seventies already Utley grounds back up the middle. Howard, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for Victorino. Wild pitch, runner moves up anyway. 3-0 count, ball four and walk number four. Bullpen will be working very soon. Romero is clueless out there today. Saved by his infield here as Francisco grounds to Johnny Mac dives, swivels and quick throw all in one motion to Hill over to Lind double play ball rescues Romero.
Bottom 5th: McDonald leading off. Grounds to Valdez at short, throw to Howard at first for the out. Hill, 2-2 count, singles back up the middle, easy isn’t it Aaron. Thames, lashes this one high into right field seats, almost a golf swing but he is so fast on that swing. Home run Eric, here comes Hill and Thames right behind him 4-2 Jays. That wakes up this sell-out crowd. Bautista, 3-0 does not even swing at this pitch ball four. They will keep walking him whilst Lind is hitting so poorly. Lind, time for Lind to break out of his slump. Not this time, lines it right at centre field. Two down for Encarnacion. Takes strike three looking.

Top 6th: Can Romero hold them now? Brown leading off. Doubles to left. Ruiz, there goes Brown and safe on throw to third. Ruiz, singles into right and Phillies get one back immediately. 4-3 Jays. Phillies hitters give a nice lesson to the Jays on how to score a run. Double, stolen base and single. Easy for the best. Still nobody out. Farrell needs to get someone up here. Valdez, grounds to short, throw to second over to Lind not in time. One down. grounds to Bautista throw to Lind for second out. fly ball to Thames. That is probably it for Romero well over the 100 pitch count.
Bottom 6th: Rivera leading off. full count, grounds to Valdez, throw to Howard, one down for Arencibia, 0-2 count, strikes out looking. Two down. Davis, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, just out it down in the dirt and Rajai will swing over it.

Top 7th: Utley, Romero still out there ok we will see. Fly ball to Davis in centre, one down. Howard singles into right centre. That’s it for Romero. Not a good out ting at all for Romero. Nothing went right for him today, on a day when he had a full house to support him. Frasor now pitching. Victorino lines it to the walk in centre, here comes Howard, Victorino to third on the throw.. 4-4 game. Francisco, lines it to left, here comes the runner 5-4 Phillies. Jays not in the same class as Phillies. Two down for Brown, 2-2 count, grounds to Hill throw to Lind for the out but this one is over for the Jays unless they can raise their play today.
Bottom 7th: McDonald, pops it up to second, one down. Hill, singles into right centre, his second hit today and he was not even supposed to be playing. Thames, strikes out swinging, two down, Bautista now, will they pitch to him? YES JOSE !!!! WOW.. First pitch bludgeons this one into left field seats, here comes Hill here comes Jose 6-5 Jays. Lind grounds to Howard. For third out. But that was Jose’s best. No doubt about that one and with game on the line. Even better still that was classic Jose swing which we have not been seeing recently.

Top 8th: Rauch now pitching, can he hold it? Ruiz, fly ball to Rivera, one down. Ross Gload pinch hitting. Fly ball to Rivera, two down for Rollins, fly ball to Davis, calls Thames off, I guess the Manager has got the message to the outfield after three miscommunications this week.
Bottom 8th: Danys Baez now pitching. Encarnacion leading off. Checked swing roller to second, only Edwin could do that, one down. Rivera, pulls it to third, throw to Howard two down. Arencibia, grounds to short, throw to Howard for third out.

Top 9th: Francisco out there to save this one. Tough assignment. Polanco, full count, high ball four. Utley, lines it to left, over head of Rivera, and Polanco to third and Utley at second still nobody out. This is trouble. Howard. Power versus power matchup.1-2 count, singles into centre. 7-6 Phillies, Blown save number four for Frank. Victorino still no outs. 2-2 count, Phillies will wait Frank out all afternoon, have to throw strikes here Frank. Pops up to Rivera in shallow left, one down. Francisco v Francisco. Doubles it off the wall in left, two in scoring position again. End of the afternoon for Frank. Not his day but then it was not Romero’s either. Rzepczynski, Brown at the plate. Grounds to Bautista holds the runners and throw to Lind for the second out. Ruiz, with two in scoring position, grounds to McDonald throw to Lind for third out.
Bottom 9th: Davis fly ball to centre, one down. McDonald pops it up to second. Hill last chance. Full count, strikes out swinging. Jays blow their best chance of winning one in this series. With Halladay and Lee to come does not look good at all.

The very good; Only one today, Jose Bautista with the game on the line, he came through with the two run home run. That is clutch hitting par excellence. Perhaps July will be a kinder month for him than June was.

The not so good: Romero from the leadoff walk in the first inning had a rough time, far too many pitches and not too many strikes. Not sharp at all today, and you have to be that and plus to have any chance at all against the Phillies. Francisco blown save, Rivera the dropped ball and losing Escobar in the first at bat.
Jays were outclassed today in every department, Phillies went deep into the counts, had no wasted at bats, good pitching good defence and above all bringing in the runner in scoring position.

Tomorrow, enough said, Halladay pitching. This could be a painful game to watch for Jays fans.