Jays save their power to defeat Lee 7-4 in the series closer

Jays v Phillies. Final game of the series.

The great news today as we start this one, Jose Bautista with 7.4 million votes has the highest ever vote count for an All-Star game starter. He must be flying today.

Line-ups: Phillies: Rollins, Polanco, Utley, Howard, Victorino, Francisco, Brown, Ruiz, Valdez and Lee pitching and going for his fourth consecutive scoreless win.
Jays: Hill, Thames, Bautista, Lind, Rivera, Encarnacion playing at first, Arencibia, Davis, McDonald and Reyes pitching.

Top 1st: Rollins, pops up to Davis, running in from centre, one down. Polanco, pops up to Davis in shallow centre. Utley, full count, grounds to Encarnacion Lind at first for the third out.
Bottom 1st: Hill bounces to third, Valdez bobbles the play and Hill safe at first, error on Valdez. Thames, first pitch, here we go again, fly ball to centre, one down for Bautista. Pops up to Brown in right, two down for Lind. 0-2 strikes out swinging at high ball. Adam still having problem laying off those pitches out of the strike zone, high or low. Inside or outside.

Top 2nd: Howard, pops up to Davis, busy guy out there today. Victorino, lines it into left field corner, fan touches it so ground rule double. Saved a base there. Francisco, grounds up the middle, here comes Victorino 1-0 Phillies. Francisco stops at first. Brown, singles into centre. Two on one down for Ruiz, 3-0 count, full count, drives it to centre, bounces over the wall, ground rule double, here comes Francisco, 2-0 Phillies, runners in scoring position for Valdez, pops up to Encarnacion, two down. 40 pitch count. Rollins drives it to Thames in right, bobbles the ball here comes two more, 4-0 Phillies. Polanco, 0-2 count, pops up to Davis mercifully the inning over for Reyes and the fans watching.
Bottom 2nd: Lee has his chance to cruise to the end of this one. Rivera, strikes out swinging on three pitches, one down for Encarnacion. Takes strike three, Edwin does not like the call, you will not win this argument, this is Lee, and he will be getting those calls all day long as did Halladay yesterday. Get used to it. Arencibia, 2-2 count, full count, JP hanging in here, seven pitches, down and away strikes out swinging. Lee cruising along.

Top 3rd: Going in to Boston tomorrow the last thing Farrell wants is the bullpen beaten up but that might be one result of today the way this one is going. Utley, 1-2 count, grounds to Hill, throw to Encarnacion, one down. Howard shift right on, pops it up to left, Bautista runs a mile to catch this one, two down for Victorino. 3-0 count again, ball four. One on two down for Francisco, grounds to Bautista throw to first for the out.
Bottom 3rd: Davis and this is why I wish he were leading off this team, drives it to the wall and easily into third sliding, another triple. Now bring him in. McDonald, yes he does it grounds to short, here comes Davis 4-1 game and Lee loses his scoreless streak to the number nine guy, that is poetic justice for the Jays. Now let’s have another. Hill, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging two down for Thames, please no first pitch swinging Eric. 0-1, singles back up the middle for Bautista. Showdown at the Rogers Centre. 0-2 count, takes curve ball third strike, does not like the call but will not win the argument, comes with the reputation Jose. One day it will be Ricky Romero`s turn to get these calls and maybe even Morrow or Drabek but for 2011 it is Lee as with Halladay. But the good news is that Jays get one back and ruin the day for Lee.

Top 4th: Brown pops up to Bautista running into the wall at third, this guy puts his body on the line here. One down for Ruiz, singles into centre. One on one down for Valdez, perfect grounds to Hill, to Johnny Mac. back to Encarnacion double play ball. That helps Reyes big-time. Now can the bats get another? That helped JoJo`s pitch count now 66 for four that is not bad considering how he started the first two.
Bottom 4th: Lind leading off. High fly ball to centre, one pitch one down. Rivera, full count, strikes out swinging at ball four. Two down. Encarnacion, pops it up, Phillies fielders Victorino running in from centre and Utley almost a disastrous collision before Utley backs off at the very last second that was very close.

Top 5th: Rollins grounds to Johnny Mac. at short, throw to Encarnacion, one quick out. Polanco, full count, fly ball to Davis in centre, two down. Utley, full count, singles into centre, one on two down for Howard, shift right on, singles up the middle, Utley to third. Two on two down for Victorino. His third at bat and Jays line-up still to go twice. 1-2 count. Pops up to Rivera in left to get out of this one. Reyes makes it to the sixth at least which I would have doubted earlier this afternoon.
Bottom 5th: Lee on 50 pitches for the first four innings. Hmmm. Arencibia leading off. Strikes out swinging, one down for Davis. Singles into right, now will we see him steal, at least mess up Lees concentration for Johnny Mac. Pops it up to Victorino in centre, two down for Hill, long, long overdue for a home run Aaron. A base hit would be fine. Good Davis messing up Lee, throwing over, now he goes and safe on the throw. Let go to third now Rajai. There he goes, and no throw, safe at third, way to go Rajai. Up to you Aaron. There you go, singles into left and here comes Rajai, 4-2 game. And also good to see Hill pulling it into left. More please Aaron. Thames now lines it to centre for the out. Jays get another on aggressive Davis. Yeah, let’s see more of it Manager John. Lee 68 pitches also, not his usual perfection.

Top 6th: Reyes on 90 pitch count. Francisco, lines it to Bautista off his glove but still recovers and throws in time for the out. Brown, 2-2 count. Bounces to Hill at second, throw to Encarnacion two down. Ruiz, full count, two pitches there that looked like strikes, ball four. Camp warming up. Valdez, 0-2 count, grounds to Bautista, throw to Encarnacion for third out. Reyes has done more than most expected today and also after that second inning.
Bottom 6th: Bautista leading off. 2-2 count, ball three, singles into left, Jose wins that one. Lind now, long long long overdue. Whoa... lifts it into shallow left, throw wild and Bautista goes to third, Lind to second, error to Francisco. Rivera now with two in scoring position here. Chance to really do some damage to Lee. This is one, Rivera lines it to Victorino in centre, here comes Bautista and Victorino falls over. Had a chance to get Lind at second. 4-3 game. Victorino still down. Twisted his ankle. Staying in the game. One down with Lind at second. Encarnacion first pitch lines it to right, two down. Arencibia, strikes out on three pitches. Jays get another but could have been more. Pitch count 83.

Top 7th: Rzepczysnki now pitching. Rollins, bounces to Bautista at third, throw to first, one down for Polanco, grounds to Encarnacion takes it himself, two down. Utley, fly ball to Rivera in left. Nice inning for Rzepczynski.
Bottom 7th: Davis 2-2 today not this time, first pitch fly ball to left for the out. Johnny Mac. Pops up to second, three pitches two outs. Hill, pops it up to second, awful hitting by Jays, six pitches three outs and that is why Lee only has 89 pitch count. Phillies do not need a bullpen when they play against the Jays.

Top 8th: Howard, grounds to MacDonald, throw to first, one down. Victorino, lines it to right corner, bounces and hits the foul pole, double for Victorino. That’s it for Rzepczysnki, Dotel in to face Francisco. No, pinch hitter Ibanez. Yes nice play Dotel has Victorino picked off at second, Whoa lines it into left safe on throw at second, that would have scored Victorino. Brown, but that’s ok, pops it up to Johnny Mac at short for third out. Interesting inning.
Bottom 8th: Now can this Jays offence see Lee out of the game. Thames leading off, WHOA!!!!!! Lines this one to centre, right on the barrel of the bat, this one is over the wall, home run Thames, 4-4 game. Bautista now, 2-0 count, Ho HO HO... Jose MVP, high into second deck 5-4 Jays. Back to back against Lee. That is impressive. Lind still nobody out. singles into centre. Rivera, high pop up to Victorino for first out, not a great at bat Juan. Encarnacion now. Chance for fame. WHOA Edwin you ARE the man, hammers this one, right on the button high into third deck in left, here comes Lind and here comes Edwin 7-4 Jays. And goodbye Cliff Lee, out of the game. Three home runs, four runs. Wow, this game is always surprising us. Stutes now pitching, Arencibia, strikes out for the fourth time. Davis, full count. Lines this one to left just misses going out, hits the wall and bounces back in for a double. Davis safe at second, his third hit of the day. McDonald, there goes Rajai, and beats the throw at third, three stolen bases today. pops it up to Rollins for third out but what an inning for the Jays probably one of their best all season long.

Top 9th: Dotel still out there, Ruiz, full count, takes strike three. One down. Gload pinch hitting for Valdez. Pops it up to shallow left for Patterson. Two down for Rollins, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Jays win big and probably their best win of the season. Jays head to Boston on a huge high. When you analyse the three games they played the Phillies as tough as they possibly could. In fact the runs scored are equal after three games. Who would have thiought that on Friday.

The excellent: Bautista home run yet again, his third home run of this series against the Phillies, and in this game the winning run. Thames leadoff home run to tie the game up, Encarnacion for so long the goat his two run home run to make it 7-4. But let’s not forget JoJo Reyes today. Pitching against one of the best NL pitchers in Lee the odds were stacked against him and when he went down 4-0 in the second it looked curtains but he hung in there and took them to the seventh. A gutsy outing for JoJo. And finally on the excellence today has to be Rajai Davis, three hit game with three stolen bases. Oh do I wish they would leave him as leadoff, he is a natural.

The other good news: Ex-Jay Brandon League is pitching in All-Star game, and good to see Travis Snider hitting over .500 in his last few games in Vegas. We are waiting for you Travis, surely he has to be back by the All-Star break and Patterson out.