Sabathia outpitches Romero as Jays win streak ends at five

Yankees v Jays. Game three of four.

Jays have humbled the Yankees in the first two games. Today Romero v Sabathia. Should be a huge crowd for this one. However Jays once again have to play without Jose Bautista. When you watch all those statistics on the Jumbotron at Rogers Centre, you realise what a huge impact Jose has on this team and in fact not a few people have wondered how Jays can win any game without Jose but in fact they have played excellent all-round baseball in the first two games and extended the win streak to five. Might be difficult to make that win streak six today.

Line-ups: Yankees: Jeter, Granderson, Teixeira, Cano, Swisher, Jones, Gardner, Nunez, Cervelli and Sabathia pitching.
Jays: Davis, Thames, Escobar, Lind, Encarnacion, Hill, Snider, Arencibia, McDonald and Romero pitching.

Top 1st: Jeter leading off grounds out to Escobar at short, throw to Lind at first, one down. Granderson fly ball to Thames in right field. Two down for Teixeira fly ball out to Thames in right for final out, nice start for Romero three up and down.
Bottom 1st: Sabathia pitching going for season win number 14 today. Davis, showing some patience today, ball four, walk to Davis. Thames, there goes Rajai and safe at second, stolen base number 25. Thames fly ball to Jones in left, Davis has to hold at second. Escobar with one down and one in scoring position. Escobar singles to Gardner in centre. Rajai Davis scores. 1-0 Jays. Lind with runner at first, strikes out swinging. Encarnacion two down one on, strikes out swinging. Jays strike first but I think they will need more help today.

Top 2nd: Cano leading off, strikes out swinging. One down for Swisher, this is trouble, fly ball to centre over the head of Davis and bounces over the wall. Davis misjudged that one he came in at first and then retreated but too late.. We have watched Vernon out there for so many years making those plays so easy it is tough to see Davis making these errors. Rather like watching Thames play the wall in Fenway. Each season they will get better but it is painful to watch them learn. Jones, singles on a line drive to Snider in left, here comes Swisher. 1-1 game. Gardner doubles to Thames in right. Jones to 3rd. Romero in trouble early today. Nunez grounds to Johnny Mac at third, throw to Lind for the out but Jones scores from third to make it 2-1. Gardner to 3rd. Cervelli, ball four, Romero not making it easy for himself, you can’t give this Yankee team any edge. Jeter, there goes Cervelli and safe at second on the steal, Yankees really taking it to Romero this inning. Trying to get him rattled. Two now in scoring position for Jeter strikes out swinging. Jays fans here like that, for some reason they have been booing him all weekend. But bottom line Yankees are out ahead.
Bottom 2nd: Hill fly ball to Jones in left. Snider, one down, grounds to Nunez at third throw first base Teixeira. Two down. Arencibia pops up to Cano at second. Three up and down for Sabathia, cruising along here.

Top 3rd: Granderson, ball four, second walk by Romero. Teixeira strikes out swinging. One down for Cano, singles to Thames in right. Granderson to 3rd. Swisher, strikes out looking. Jones, a break here for Romero, he has Cano caught up between bases, here comes Granderson taking off from third, HiIl is throwing home and wild with the throw. Granderson scores. Robinson Cano to 3rd. Throwing error by Hill and Yankees go out ahead 3-1. Jones grounds to Johnny Mac and throw to Lind for third out but Yankees have extended their lead.
Bottom 3rd: Johnny Mac grounds to third, Nunez wild here with his throw and Johnny Mac is safe at first. Error to Nunez. He has not had a good weekend at third. Davis grounds to Jeter throw to Cano over to Teixeira double play ball. Even Davis speed cannot beat that one. Two down for Thames, strikes out swinging to end the inning.

Top 4: Gardner lines fly ball to Davis in centre, drops in and Gardner with that speed is safe at second. He is one good player. Nunez bunting back to Romero throw to Lind for the out but Gardner easily to third. Cervelli, runner at third, strikes out swinging. Two down but the top of the order Jeter, grounds to Escobar, throw is wild by Escobar and Gardner scores. 4-1 Yankees. Jeter to 2nd, on the error by Escobar. This is a very different game from the previous two. Granderson, grounds to Lind, takes it himself for third out but Yankees are steadily building that lead. Worse still Romero pitch count is far too high. He may not be around much longer although he has not been helped by his team-mates defensive errors today.
Bottom 4th: Escobar, leading off, needs to redeem himself for that throwing error. Ball four that’s a start Yunel. One on for Lind, singles to Swisher in right, Escobar moves to second, first two on, can the Jays bring them in? Yesterday’s hero Encarnacion, strikes out swinging. One down for Hill, no Aaron, lines to Nunez at third throw to Cano. Escobar is doubled off 2nd. Rough luck for the Jays. But Yankees didn’t get many breaks on Thursday.

Top 5th: Teixeira fly ball to Davis in centre, one down. This is a HUGE crowd today by the way and so it should be with great weather but also the good play by the Jays over the last two weeks. Cano ball four, and walk number three by Romero. His control has been lousy today. Swisher, oh no, wild pitch by Romero, Cano to 2nd. You don’t need to give these Yankees any spare bases Ricky. Swisher takes strike three. Here comes the pitching coach Bruce Walton. Jones, with Cano at second, strikes out swinging. Whatever Walton said it worked. But Romero now up to 107 pitch count. That may be it today. He will want to know what went wrong but the three walks give him one hint along with the 59 strikes. Not a winning ratio Ricky.
Bottom 5th: Snider pops up to Cano at second, one down for Arencibia. Fly ball to Gardner in centre, two down. Johnny Mac, strikes out swinging. Sabathia getting stronger and stronger.

Top 6th: Shawn Camp replacing Romero. Gardner bunt ground ball to Arencibia, throw not in time and safe at first. Nunez pops up to Lind, one down. Cervelli now hitting, there goes Gardner and safe at second, steal number 24 for Gardner. And second on Arencibia today. Cervelli grounds to Johnny Mac at third, throw to Lind for second out. Gardner to 3rd. Jeter, grounds to Escobar throw to Lind at first. Camp a difficult inning but escapes without damage.
Bottom 6th: Davis fly ball to Gardner in centre, one down for Thames, grounds to Teixeira at first, two down. Escobar fly ball to Gardner in centre. One two three inning for Sabathia and in no trouble at all this afternoon so far.

Top 7th: Luis Perez replacing Camp. Perez is really getting used heavily by Farrell but as long as Villanueva is in the rotation he is short of relief pitching. Granderson bunting but Arencibia throw to Lind in time to get Granderson. One down for Teixeira, singles to Snider in left, one on for Cano. Cano grounds Escobar throw to Hill Teixeira out at 2nd. Cano to 1st. Farrell out to make pitching change. Interesting, here is Frankie Francisco in for Perez. Swisher grounds first pitch, to Hill throw to Lind for third out. Frankie did his job but one pitch, hard to judge whether he is Cy Young or not.
Bottom 7th: Jays are starting to run out of outs now as Rivera will be up in the ninth and good luck with a Yankees three run lead. Lind leading off, strikes out swinging. Encarnacion grounds to Cano throw to first Teixeira. Two down for Hill. Ball four. Two down one on for Snider, strikes out swinging to end the inning.

Top 8th: Francisco still pitching. Jones fly ball to Davis in centre, one down. Gardner grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind, two down. Nunez pops up to Hill. Nice inning by Francisco but Jays still need to score some runs.
Bottom 8th: Arencibia, strikes out swinging. One down for Johnny Mac. There we go, doubles to Golson now playing in left. Jays have a runner in scoring position. Davis grounds to Jeter throw to Teixeira at first, two down as McDonald gets to third. Thames lines out to Gardner. Jays unable to get the runner in. That will be their best chance now.

Top 9th: Jon Rauch pitching. Cervelli fly ball to Davis in centre, one down. Jeter, singles to Davis in centre. one on, one down for Granderson singles to Thames in right, Jeter to second. Not over yet for the Yankees. Teixeira pops up to Arencibia, two down. Cano strikes out swinging. Rauch makes it interesting but Jays still have three to get against Rivera.
Bottom 9th: As advertised Rivera it is. Escobar, takes strike three, have to swing here Yunel. One down for Lind, Yankees fans sense a victory here. Not yet, Lind keeps it going with a single to Swisher in right. Encarnacion, same again singles softly to Swisher in right two on and amazingly the tying run, Jays fans turn to get excited here. Patterson pinch running for Encarnacion. Hill, hanging tough here, eight pitches as he strikes out swinging, two down. Last chance for Jays. Snider, not this time grounds to Jeter throw to Teixeira and Yankees nation can relax. They are back in the winner’s circle. Sabathia was almost perfect for eight today. Jays had no answer.

The good: Definitely the bullpen which picked up Romero with four scoreless innings. But I didn’t see anything else to compare to the previous two games. Sabathia much too good for this line-up today.
The not so good: This one did not match the pre-game hype of the best versus the best, Romero-Sabathia. It was in fact no contest. Romero was not at his best at all and Sabathia was. Game over, second consecutive loss for Romero. Disappointing for Jays fans but still have a chance tomorrow to win the series. Jays also ruin the five game win streak. Infield errors by both Hill and Escobar today, usually much stronger than this. The worse stat today is the RISP. Jays hitters go very poor 1-8