Mariners v Jays. Series finale.
Jays going for the sweep this afternoon, a midday game I love these always full of energy with the children. Today it is Camp day and the fifth deck is almost filled to the foul line in left. Plus they have closed the roof thank goodness in this heat, a record for Toronto for July 21st. Humidity is 47 % with temperature in the high 30’s. It is HOT… Today Romero pitching and Seattle trying to avoid twelve game losing streak, but then again this is the type of game Jays consistently lose.
Line-ups: Mariners: Suzuki, Ryan, Kennedy, Olivo, Smoak, Bard, Gutierrez, Figgins, Wilson and Fister pitching. How do you select a team that has lost eleven in a row? Manager Wedge has a nightmare of a job.
Jays: Escobar, Thames, Bautista, Lind, Encarnacion, Snider, Arencibia, Patterson, McCoy and Romero pitching. Jose still DH today to get than ankle fit again plus the artificial turf in Toronto is not very friendly for the injury so he may return in Texas series.
Top 1st: Ichiro grounds to McCoy at second, cannot handle it and no chance to get Ichiro at first. Poor guy not a great start subbing for Hill today. Ryan, that’s better, grounds to Escobar, throw to McCoy over to Lind just gets Ryan at first, that was an excellent double play as Ichiro runs very hard and McCoy has not had many chances at second to turn those, he will feel much better after that first play got away. Kennedy, strikes out. Great first inning for Romero six pitches. A little different from the high 20’s that Morrow had last night. I think it is important for Jays to get going early today and totally depress the Mariners on that eleven game losing streak.
Bottom 1st: Escobar on a 24 consecutive base reaching game streak, grounds to Wilson playing at second today, throw to Smoak at first, one down. Escobar not running to first and gets at least a couple of fans calling him out on that. Thames strikes out, two down for Bautista, listen to that ovation, nothing like 20,000 plus young children able to shout as loud as they like. No luck here though as he grounds to Smoak at first to end the inning. Fister looks good out there.
Top 2nd: Olivo grounds to Encarnacion, may be playing his last game at third for a while at least if Jose returns in Texas. There are also rumours that Lawrie might join the team in Texas but I am not sure about that as he had a rough double header yesterday going hitless. Smoak, lines this very hard bit right at Encarnacion, two down. Bard strikes out.
Bottom 2nd: Lind leading off, strikes out. One down for Encarnacion pops it up to Ryan at shirt, two down for Snider, grounds to Smoak at first who flips to Fister covering for the third out. Fister matching Romero here for low pitch count and speed of the innings. This game will be over in an hour at this rate.
Top 3rd: Gutierrez grounds to third, hits the bag and bounces into left. Figgins with one on, strikes out. Wilson fly ball to Snider playing centre field today. Ichiro, there goes Gutierrez and safe at second. Not sure Ricky saw that coming. Ichiro 3-0 and ball four, two on for Ryan, here goes Ichiro and Gutierrez, double steal and both safe. Ryan strikes out looking, leaving two in scoring position. Strike out number three for Romero.
Bottom 3rd: Patterson, strikes out. One down for Arencibia, pops up to Smoak at first, two down, the gossip is that JP is still hurting with the thumb injury, probably makes sense as he is not getting a lengthy time to let it heal but that is probably occupational for all catchers. He is certainly not throwing or hitting the way he can. McCoy lines this one to centre but Gutierrez has it to end the inning. Fister and Romero are going at it head to toe here. Nine up and down for Fister.
Top 4th: Kennedy, lines it to Patterson in left for the out. Olivo fly ball to centre but Snider has it no problem. Two down for Smoak, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind for the out. Another three up and down for Romero, this game is hustling along.
Bottom 4th: Escobar leading off, grounds to Ryan at short throw to Smoak, one down for Thames. There we go first hit for the Jays as he lines it into right. One on for Bautista. Wild pitch and Thames moves up to second. Jose lines it to centre but Gutierrez has no problem with this one for the out. Two down for Lind, fly ball to Figgins in left to end the inning and leave Thames out there. Right now Fister is pitching just as well if not better than Romero.
Top 5th: Bard, fly ball to left but Patterson has it for the out. One down for Gutierrez, grounds to Escobar at short, throw to Lind, two down. Figgins, ball four and second walk by Romero. Not the guy he wants to walk though. Wilson, there goes Figgins and steals second easily. Wilson 3-0, Romero seems rattled again with the runner on as he was in the third inning. Ball four and another walk and to the number nine guy. Two on for Ichiro. What happened there? Romero waking off he thought it was strike three, no he just got a piece. Ichiro doesn’t miss this chance for s second shot. Singles to Snider in centre, here comes Figgins to score first run, Ichiro goes to second as the throw misses the cut-off guy, Wilson at third, two now in scoring position, that could be a costly error by Snider. 1-0 Mariners. The way Fister is pitching this could be enough today. Ryan, whoa great curve and strikes out Ryan, that was a great pitch. Romero needed that badly. Second time that Ryan has left two on.
Bottom 5th: Jays need some runs here. Encarnacion, full count, ball four. Good start. Snider, pops up to Kennedy at third, one down. Patterson, fly ball to Ichiro in right, two down one on for Arencibia. Pouch that hurts, hits him and Arencibia to first. Two on two down for McCoy. Way to go Mikey lines this one to left. Here comes Edwin, 1-1 game. Arencibia being held at third. McCoy has a double. Top of the order again Escobar, no Yunel, first pitch grounds to Wilson at second throw to Smoak for third out. Not sure about that and I hope Butterfield did not hold up Arencibia at third for Escobar at bat.
Top 6th: Romero back even. Kennedy leading off, fly ballot left but Patterson has it, one down. Olivo, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind, two down. Smoak, strikes out. Romero makes short work of those three.
Bottom 6th: Thames strikes out, oh dear. Go on Eric., he didn’t realise the ball got away from Olivo and is now running and gets to first without a throw from Olivo. That was very lucky. Bautista with Thames at first, OH Jose, hammers this one to left, here comes Thames and Jays go ahead 2-1. That is what is called sheer luck… after striking out the guy gets a run. Mariners must wonder what they have to do to win a game. That was really bad luck. Lind now with Bautista at second, chance for a big inning here. Grounds to Wilson at second, throw to Smoak at first, one down but Bautista to third. Encarnacion, pops it up to Wilson at second, one of those high pops up specials from Edwin, no chance for Bautista to come home. Two down for Snider. Lines it to centre to Gutierrez for the third out, that was the hit Edwin should have made. Jays get one but very lucky one and fail to bring in Bautista on three chances, that is not good at all, but on the other hand give some credit to Fister.
Top 7th: Bard, strikes out. Gutierrez, strikes out, Romero really bearing down here with this one run lead. Figgins, he strikes out. Ricky strikes out the side and looked mean doing it. His best inning of the game. Nine strikeouts today for Romero.
Bottom 7th: Patterson leading off, grounds to short, but beats out the throw, very nice speed Corey. Arencibia, bunting here, or at least trying to, Fister is missing, 3-0 count, ball four, two on nobody out for McCoy. He bunts and grounds back to Fister, oh he fumbles it and McCoy safe at first, error to Fister, he had plenty of time to make the play. Bases loaded for Escobar, there you go Yunel, singles back at Fister and that looked as if it hit his glove, ball into centre field, here comes Patterson, 3-1 Jays. And Escobar, has his base reaching streak extended to 25 consecutive games. Thames, full count, Fister really has fallen apart here, he had been so good. Ball four and here comes another run, 4-1 Jays. Davis pinch running for Thames. And with Bautista coming to bat that is it for Fister. Tough ending for him. Ray now pitching, Davis there we go Jose fly ball to Gutierrez in centre, more than enough for McCoy to tag and score, 5-1 Jays. Escobar goes to second but Davis holds at first on the throw. Lind, there goes Davis without a throw. Two now in scoring position. Ooops they are walking Lind now, maybe that was not a good idea Rajai. Bases loaded for Encarnacion. Oh dear Edwin, not your day is it, pops it up yet again to Wilson at second and no chance for runner to score. That is the second time he has done that with runners at third. I hope he is not reverting back to that early season trend. Snider fly ball to Figgins in left. Jays get three but that could have a lot more with bases loaded and one out.
Top 8th: Romero now has a four run lead to work with. Davis moves to centre, Snider to left and Patterson to right. Wilson grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind, one down. Ichiro grounds to Lind at first but Romero too slow to get to the bag to take the throw and Ichiro takes first, he still has that speed. Ryan grounds to Escobar at short and beats the throw. Two on one down for Kennedy, ball three, Romero not sharp here, ball four and he has loaded them up. Oh boy… and here comes Farrell. Both pitchers had pitched so well for six innings. Casey Janssen now pitching with bases loaded and one down. Olivo, NO, NO, Casey, I don’t believe it, he has hammered this one to centre, Davis turns and looks at it and this game is all tied up 5-5, can you believe it? This place is dead silent, everyone is as shell shocked as Janssen, and Romero must be devastated. It may well be that the Mariners are due for some good luck but this is too much. I have rarely heard this stadium so quiet. And off Janssen of all people, such a solid performer all season long. Jon Rauch is warming up in the bullpen. Smoak, singles to Davis in centre, Janssen is obviously still upset. Bard with one on and one down, singles to Davis in centre. This is bad and Farrell also thinks so and he is out of the dugout fast. That is it for Casey, whoa I would never have imagined that. Rauch now pitching with two on and one down, this may not be over yet friends. Halman now pinch running for Smoak. Gutierrez pops it up to Escobar, two down. Figgins, strikes him out, you can hear that cheer miles away but this one is a whole new ball game and neither starter will get the win.
Bottom 8th: How do you come back from that one? Kennedy now at first. Halman in left, Figgins at third. Pauley now pitching. Patterson, grounds to Wilson at second, throw to Kennedy at first, one down. Arencibia, strikes out, two quick outs for Pauley. Number nine McCoy, there we go Mikey, does it again, lines to left and dives in to second to beat the throw. In scoring position but Jays have not been too good today. Escobar, ball three, patience here for Escobar, ball four and walks to out two on for Davis. OH YES Rajai, lines it to right, here comes McCoy and followed by Escobar, running twice as fast as he usually does, Jays get two more and go out ahead 7-5. Mariners really must think they are jinxed. Not over yet as Bautista to the plate, intentional walk, not even giving him the chance. Two on for Lind. Adam show them what you can do. No not this time, fly ball to Halman in left, Jays leave two more on but have two runs, will it be enough this time? And who will take ninth inning?
Top 9th: Jon Rauch out again to try to finish this one off. Ackley for Wilson, pops it up to Escobar, one down for Ichiro, who has been a real pain today. Not this time, fly ball to Patterson in right Corey makes the catch. Two down for Ryan, strike two, we are on our feet, NOISY…. Singles to centre, we all sit down again, this is déjà vu and our hearts can only take so much. Kennedy, strike two, up we get again, YES this time strike three and Rauch pounds his fist and quite right, this was one game that would have been awful to let get away. Jays win 7-5 but what a roller coaster ending. Rauch gets the win.
On to Texas who have just lost their second in a row after their twelve game win streak.
Tough award, today definitely goes to Fister who pitched so very well only marginally less than Romero for seven. But heartbreaker goes to Romero but we all have to feel for Manager Wedge.
The very good: Today I give the awards to Mike McCoy his two hits, and Davis with his game winning double.
The good: Romero who was very, very good for seven then fell apart in the eighth but even so his bullpen should have picked him up for the win. Tough no decision for him but then it could have been a lot worse. However he is now winless in his last four starts. Jon Rauch had an excellent outing, picking up Janssen but also getting the deserved win in the ninth, this would have been one tough loss for the Jays if they had let this one get away.
The lousy: Obviously Janssen, but also Edwin did not play well today leaving runners on base twice at crucial times in the game. But once again the old bugbear runners in scoring position 3-13 today. WOW indeed. Encarnacion and Snider leave nine on base between them, what a change from last night’s game.
Carole Jay has an interesting theory that Snider is so focused on playing centre that his hitting is suffering. I think she has something there as this is the second game he has hit poorly playing centre.
This game had everything though for great entertainment and enough lousy luck for the Mariners to really to wonder who broke the mirror a couple of weeks ago to start this twelve game losing streak when they were within one of the division lead, that is tough indeed.
BUT every Jays fan wishes them luck as they now head to Fenway and hope they can not only break the losing streak but sweep those Red Sox. Go Mariners.
Jays have to play them again in September and it could be very different.
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