Morrow gem to support Rasmus breakout as Jays win 7-3

Jays v Rangers Series finale.

Jays going for a win today but first the Robbie Alomar event and retiring of the number. I have not been a major fan of him since the Hisrchbeck incident but do acknowledge that he had great talent. Am still not convinced that he was THE best Jays player ever as the hype this last month has been promoting. He was only with the club for five years and there are more deserving in my mind. I like the Red Sox criteria that a player has to be with the club for ten years before his number is retired, and also retire with the Red Sox and be a Hall of Famer.

But today we have a huge crowd and that is well worth the hype. Let’s hope the team can put on a show for the crowd and not see them all leaving in the seventh inning. Today Morrow is pitching and thus my concerns.

Line-ups: Rangers: Chavez, Quintanilla, Hamilton, Young, Napoli, Moreland, Teagarden, Murphy, Blanco and C.J. Wilson pitching.
Jays: Davis, Rasmus, Bautista, Encarnacion, Thames, Molina, Hill, McDonald, Arencibia and Morrow pitching. Very interesting line-up. Today no Lind, Escobar or Snider. Lefty pitcher is the reason given. Interesting coincidence on last day of trade deadline. I hope so.

Top 1st: Chavez, 3-0 count, ball four, this is what my concern was all about. Quintanilla Ball one. Throw a strike Brandon pleeeease. Finally, strikes out swinging, one down. Hamilton, 1-2 count, there goes Chavez, throw down and he gets him at second. Molina behind the plate today, two down. Strikes out swinging and Morrow recovers from that leadoff walk.
Bottom 1st: Jays have a huge crowd here this afternoon, they have to take advantage of the noise and support. Leading off today. Davis leading off, 1-2 count, grounds to short, throw to Moreland at first to get him one down for Rasmus, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down for Bautista. 3-1 count, outside ball four, two down one on for Encarnacion. Ball gets away and Bautista to second. full count, WHOA HOOOO Edwin hammers this one, no doubt as it left the bat, home run into second deck, left field seats, 2-0 Jays. Thames. Pops it up to left for the out, but Jays strike early and get the crowd in the game big-time.

Top 2nd: Now Morrow has to respond to that early lead and close Rangers down here. Young leading off. 1-2 count, singles into right. One on for Napoli, he has loved Jays pitchers this week, home and away. 0-2 count, not this time as he strikes out swinging on three pitches. One down one on for Moreland. 3-1 count, ball four, two on one down. Teagarden, full count, strikes out swinging. Murphy, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging and leaves two out there. Morrow does the job strikes out the side all swinging, but gives our hearts a workout.
Bottom 2nd: Molina leading off. oh boy.... grounds to short and Blanco with plenty of time throws it past Moreland at first and into the crowd, WOW, he had plenty of time with Molina running. Error on the play. Now Jose is in scoring position. Hill, below Molina in the line-up that would hurt his pride. Full count. Off the end of his bat and Young throw to first to get Hill but maybe should have left that for the pitcher to get as it enabled Molina to go to third. One down and McDonald, that will do it lines to Chavez in centre and ball is dropped here comes Molina and Johnny Mac safe at first. 3-0 Jays. Arencibia DH today. Johnny Mac stealing and beats the throw at second. 3-0 count, have to feel sorry for Wilson though. Grounds to third, throw to first to get Arencibia. Davis, another 3-0 count, there goes Johnny Mac, ball four, throw down and he is out at third. That was not good Johnny Mac.

Top 3rd: Blanco 1-2 count, grounds to Hill, great play and throw to Encarnacion to get one down. Chavez grounds first pitch to third, Bautista throw to first for the out. Quintanilla two down, grounds to Hill, throw to first to end the inning. Much better inning for Morrow. Pitch count at 53.
Bottom 3rd: Rasmus, there we go Colby lifts it into left, and drops in front of Hamilton and bounces past him, Colby, stand up double. First hit as a Jay and in scoring position for Bautista. Error to Hamilton on the play. Nobody out. Wild pitch and Colby moves to third. 3-0 count, ball four down and away. Two on nobody out for Encarnacion. Grounds to short, throw to second on to first double play ball but Rasmus running on the hit and scores 4-0 Jays, First run for Rasmus as a Jay. Two down for Thames. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. Pitch count 63.

Top 4th: Hamilton leading off. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. Young, 3-1 count, bounces to McDonald throw to Encarnacion, two down. Napoli, 1-2 count, strikes out, number seven for Morrow. Pitch count 68.
Bottom 4th: Molina leading off. Full count, grounds to third, throw to first for the out. Hill grounds to third, long throw to Moreland not in time Hill safe at first. Johnny Mc. Grounds to third, great throw by Young to Moreland to get McDonald as Hill moves to second. Two down for Arencibia. That will do it lines it past Young off his glove, into left, here comes Hill 5-0 Jays. Davis, runner at first. Davis lines it into left corner, Arencibia manages to get to third, double for Davis. Rasmus now with two in scoring position. Great chance for first rbi. Full count, YES, way to go Colby lines this one to centre field over the head of Chavez, to the wall, here comes both runners and his first rbis. 7-0 Jays. And Rasmus has his first hit, first run and first RBIs. And more to the point has knocked Wilson out of the game. Tateyama, Bautista now with Rasmus in scoring position. Check swing off end of his bat to Tateyama. Throw to Moreland to get Bautista.

Top 5th: Moreland leading off. Pops it up to Bautista at third. Teagarden, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. Eight now for Morrow. Two down for Murphy, 0-2 count, grounds back up the middle, bouncer past Hill, one on two down for Blanco pops it up to McDonald. Pitch count 81.
Bottom 5th: Encarnacion, grounds to Young, throw to Moreland one down for Thames. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down for Molina, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging.

Top 6th: Crowd has thinned out a lot here. Chavez, strikes out swinging. Number nine for Morrow. Quintanilla, 0-2 count, strikes out looking, season high for Morrow. Two down for Hamilton, singles to left, one on two down for Young. 0-2 count, lines it high to right, Thames cannot get it, off the fence and double for Young Hamilton scores. 7-1 Jays. Napoli, singles back up the middle and here comes Young, 7-2. Moreland 1-2 count, strikes out swinging and Morrow has new season high eleven strikeouts.
Bottom 6th: Jays would like to get those two runs back but bottom of the order up. Arthur Rhodes now pitching. Hill, hammers it to left but right at Young for the out. Nice hit though Aaron. Johnny Mc. Pops it up to Chavez in centre. Arencibia, first pitch swinging, gets under this one and a very high pop up to left.

Top 7th: Morrow back out there with 97 pitch count. Teagarden, pops it up to right centre for Thames to make the catch. One down for Murphy. Full count, singles into centre. Blanco, wild pitch off the glove of Molina to the backstop. Murphy to second.1-2 count, bounces to Encarnacion throw to Morrow for the second out. Chavez, 0-2 count, grounds to first nice diving save by Encarnacion throw to Morrow to make the out himself. Nice play as that will probably be the end of Morrow outing today 115 pitches.
Bottom 7th: Top of the order again. Davis leading off. Uehara pitching. Davis strikes out. Rasmus with two hit day. Not this time as he grounds to Young throw to Moreland at first for the second out, Bautista, two walk today and no hits, strikes out swinging on three pitches.

Top 8th: Miller now pitching. Quintanilla grounds to Encarnacion, throw to Miller for first out. Hamilton, lines it into right and bounces over the wall. Ground rule double. That’s it for Miller and now Casey Janssen to pitch to Young. Grounds to Bautista looks Hamilton back to second and throw to first to get second out. Napoli, full count. Lines it off the wall in centre over Rasmus. 7-3 Jays, stand up double for Napoli. Moreland 2-2 count, grounds to Encarnacion takes it himself for third out.
Bottom 8th: Scott Feldman now pitching. Mark Teahen pinch hitting for Encarnacion, bounces first pitch to second, throw to Moreland, one down. You would think he would take a couple with his first at bat as a Jay. Thames grounds to short, throw to first, two quick outs. Molina, pops up to right to end the inning.

Top 9th: Francisco now pitching. Teagarden, 2-2 count, grounds back up the middle. One on for Murphy, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for Blanco, 1-2 count, strikes out looking. Two down for top of the order. Chavez, 1-2 count, grounds to McDonald, flip to Hill to get Teagarden. Jays win big today 7-3 and also the series against a very tough Texas side.

Huge crowd today with that fifth deck filled all the way around. 45,629 attendance. Hopefully they will be back.

The excellent: Morrow with 115 pitch, seven inning, eleven strikeout game. He could have gone the distance if he had settled down earlier, too many pitches early in the game. But we are being picky, a great outing and win for him.
The very good: Rasmus two hit day his first of everything, hit, run and rbis. Great to see him do this before heading on the road to Tampa. Encarnacion also with both his bat, the home run to get Jays going early and also his glove at first.
The not so good: Johnny Mc getting caught at third and making the third out as Davis walked. Picky maybe, but the next inning Rasmuys lead off with a double and that would have scored both McDonald and davis with his speed.

Great series and also home stand 4-2 for the Jays, keeping within striking distance of Tampa and third place. NOW the big question remains, will Lawrie join the team in Tampa?