Tampa Rays v Jays Game two of four.
The morning after the night before and the terrible meltdown by Bautista, today clean shaven, has erased the memory of the bad old Jose? He is not commenting which is probably smart if MLB is considering his penalty. However I do think it would have helped him big-time if he had apologized to the fans. Whether he likes it or not he is regarded as role model for many young children.
Line-ups: Rays: Jennings, Fuld, Longoria, Zobrist, Upton, Rodriguez, Shoppach, Johnson, Brignac and Niemann pitching.
Jays: Escobar, Thames, Bautista, Lind, Encarnacion, Lawrie, Johnson, Arencibia, DeWayne Wise in his first game back, and Perez pitching. Don Wakamatsu still interim Manager today for John Farrell suffering from pneumonia.
Top 1st: Jennings, pops up to a clean shaven Bautista in right, not sure what that is about. Clean start ? Fuld, full count, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind, two down for Longoria full count, pops it up to right, long run by Bautista to make the catch at the wall in foul ground, Easy three up and down for Perez.17 pitches.
Bottom 1st: Escobar, bunting pops up to Niemann for the first out. What a waste. Thames, 2-2 count, singles back up the middle. Bautista, that’s the way to answer Jose, hammers it to centre off the wall here comes Thames 1-0 Jays. Jose at second. Lind there goes Jose but Lind fouls it off. Come on Adam, take one. 1-2 count, lines it to right off the wall Jose to third, thought it was being caught Lind at first, Encarnacion, pops it up, the usual hopeless Edwin with runner at third. Shallow right for the out. Johnson now, 2-1 count, grounds back to Niemann, throw to first for the out. 23 pitches.
Top 2nd: Zobrist grounds to Escobar, long throw to Lind, one down. Upton, full count, inside ball four, you don’t want Upton on base Luis. Sean Rodriguez, perfect pops it up to Lind, two down. Shoppach, there goes Upton, great throw by Arencibia, right on the money and Upton out at second. Pitch count 28.
Bottom 2nd: Lawrie leading off, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. One down for Arencibia, full count, strikes out on ball four. Two down for DeWayne Wise, grounds first pitch to second, throw to first for the out. Pitch count 34.
Top 3rd: Shoppach, 1-2 count, grounds to Lawrie, spins 360 and throw to Lind in time, nice play Brett, one down for Johnson, lines it at Lind, knocks it down but not in time to get Johnson. Brignac, one on one down. Lines it to Bautista in right, two down. Jennings, 3-1 outside ball four, Two on two down for Fuld. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging leaving two out there. Pitch count 51.
Bottom 3rd: Top of the order, Escobar. 1-2 count, looks at strike three. One down for Thames, 2-2 count, high fly ball to Upton in centre, two down for Bautista, full count, ball four, two down for Lind, hammers it hard again this time right at Upton in centre to make the catch. Two hard hit balls by Lind today. 53 pitches.
Top 4th: Longoria, 3-0 count, ball four. They can walk him every at bat as far as I am concerned, he was one big pain last night with his two home runs. Zobrist, 2-2 count, hammers it to the wall in centre, stand up double. Longoria holds at third, Perez in trouble here for the first time, two on and in scoring position with nobody out, Upton. Strikes out swinging one down, nice pitching Luis. Rodriguez, 3-0 danger of loading them up. Pulls it past Lawrie into left, fan reaches down to get the ball, dumb, here comes both runners 2-1 Rays, and Rodriguez at second for Shoppach. Déjà vu last night. There goes Rodriguez, Arencibia throw to Lawrie gets him 2-2 today for JP. Two down now Shoppach 1-2 count, strikes out looking, Joe Maddon will not like that out by Rodriguez, turns a potentially big inning into just a one run lead. 74 pitch count.
Bottom 4th: Encarnacion, it is time he got back into his groove. Full count, ball four, one on for Johnson, grounds to first, throw to second safe, arguing the call as the ball popped out of his glove, Lawrie, with one down and Edwin in scoring position. Lines it to left, hits the wall in the corner, just foul. Full count, froze him with that one. Two down. Arencibia, that will do it, lines pitch into left and ball bounces into the crowd, ground rule double, here comes Edwin 2-2 game. Wise,1-2 count strikes out swinging but very high pitch count at 78 pitches.
Top 5th: Johnson, hammers it to Lawrie at third, great play and throw to Lind. One down nice play Brett. Brignac, singles to Bautista in right. One on one down for Jennings, same play, another single, two on for Fuld, bunting, great bunt but Perez throw gets Fuld. Both runners move up and into scoring position. Longoria, two down, here comes Bruce Walton. Probably says walk him. Pitching to him, 3-1 count, now they are putting him on. Should have done it from the start. Bases loaded. Zobrist, 2-2 count, strikes him out swinging. Leaves the bases loaded, that would feel good way to end for Perez. 93 pitch count. Could be his last inning today. Camp was warming up.
Bottom 5th: Escobar leading off, time to give Perez a few runs to go out of game with. Lines it softly to Elliot Johnson at second, one down for Thames. 2-2 count, drives it into shallow centre, Upton runs it down two down for Bautista. Pops up to Shoppach. 89 pitches.
Top 6th: Camp now pitching. Upton, hits it high to left but foul, Upton arguing, now the umpire and Maddon involved and now making a review. That’s ok, it was foul. 1-2 count, love it, hits him on the leg, that was for last night. One on for Rodriguez lines it past Lawrie into left, two on for Shoppach, WOW.... bunts to Camp, throw to Lawrie, gets him throw to Kelly Johnson covering first, gets Shoppach Johnson throws back to Lawrie, almost, almost a triple play, wow. Runner at third two down for Johnson, singles to right, here comes Rodriguez, 3-2 game. Brignac, Johnson takes second, 2-2 count. grounds to Johnson at second, throw to Lind for the out. Could have been a lot worse when they had two on and nobody out. Maddon will not be happy with just one.
Bottom 6th: Should be last inning for Niemann but you never know with this team when they put Shields through 128 !! pitch game last night and with nothing at stake. Lind, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging on high ball. Encarnacion, grounds to Brignac at short, throw to first, two down. Kelly Johnson, grounds to Elliot Johnson at second, throw to first to end the inning. 100 pitch count.
Top 7th: Jesse Litsch now pitching. Top of the order, Jennings leading off. 2-2 count, bounces to Lind for the out. One down for Fuld, 3-1 count, ball four, one on for Longoria. Another 3-1 count, full count, outside and a second walk for Litsch. Zobrist, another full count, strikes out swinging, two down. Upton, this is disaster, first pitch high drive into upper deck in left centre, home run all the way, 6-2 Rays. That is good bye to Litsch what a mess. He didn’t have much today at all. Janssen now to try and pick up the pieces. Rodriguez, singles to left, Shoppach, now Janssen throws it away into right field Rodriguez up to second and going to third on Bautista throw, wrong decision friend, nailed at the bag by the throw, Maddon will have a fit with that mess-up. Never run on Bautista arm, that is baseball 101 that Rodriguez obviously failed.
Bottom 7th: Kotchman in defensively for Rodriguez at first. OR is that being benched for that out at third base? Lawrie leading off, Niemann still out there, crazy. I would not buy a second-hand pitcher from the Rays. Full count, lines it to the wall in centre, easy triple for him. Not even a throw. Triple number four !!! Arencibia, moves him off the plate, nasty. Way outside the other side, way. Another high inside. It is time Jays pitchers started to throw inside but that is another story, meantime opposing teams do it constantly to the Jays. 3-1 count, perfect JP, grounds to short, here comes Lawrie, 6-3 game. Arencibia out at first but he did what he had to do. One down for Wise, no now Maddon makes the move, end of Niemann, weird but it cost them a run and who knows what arm problems later 111 pitches. Howell now pitching. Wise 1-2 count, throws it over the head of Wise. Ok I can see why Maddon wants his starters to stay in a game, his bullpen is so bad. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. Two down for Escobar, grounds first pitch to Longoria at third, throw to first for the out.
Top 8th: Jansen still pitching. Shoppach, fly ball to Wise, one down. Johnson, 0-2 count, singles up the middle past diving Escobar. Kotchman, there goes Johnson, Arencibia throw to Escobar, gets him easily, two down, that is the third Ray today that has been caught stealing, you would think they get the message, but that’s ok Jays will take the three outs instead. Kotchman singles to Wise in centre. Expensive mistake by Johnson. One on two down for Jennings. Pops it up to Bautista in right.
Bottom 8th: Thames leading off. Jake McGee now pitching. 0-2 count, fouling them off here, 2-2, gets hold of this one and hammers it high into right field seats, home run to Thames, 6-4 game, this is not over yet friends. Bautista, pops up to Kotchman at first. Lind, 2-2 strikes out swinging, two down for Encarnacion. That is it for McGee. Maddon bringing in Juan Cruz to face Edwin. OH Yes Edwin, a bullet to centre into the seats, 6-5 Rays. One run game Johnson, 3-1 count, ball four. Lawrie with two down and one on, making this game interesting. Here comes the pitching coach, they really do give Lawrie lots of respect for a guy who has not been in the majors for a month. Ball one, high inside, 2-0 count, pops it up to Longoria at third to end the inning.
Top 9th; Francisco now pitching, has to hold them here. Fuld leading off, fly ball to Thames, one down for Longoria, 2-2 count, pops it up to Lind, two down for Zobrist, 3-1 count, singles to Bautista in right. Here comes trouble Upton. Zobrist steals second. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging.
Bottom 9th: Peralta now pitching. Arencibia. First pitch pop up to Shoppach, drops the ball. Wow. Fly ball to right, one down. Wise, fly ball to left, two down for Escobar to be the hero. Base hit Yunel to keep it going. 2-2 count, fly ball to left for third out and Jays lose this one 6-5.
Jays make it close at the end but still not enough and lose their second in a row to Tampa.
Bautista ? well my theory is that he wants to let his game respond to the criticism. Lead by example by what he does not what he says.
The very good: The double play that was almost a triple play between Camp, Lawrie and Kelly Johnson. Two of the newbies which is great to see. Arencibia caught three stealing. Perez was fine for a rookie on his second start, he just had no run support. Lawrie yet another triple, fans cannot wait until he starts getting those “in the park” home runs, and they will come, no question. Bautista rbi in the first inning to get the game rolling and a great outfield assist to get Rodriguez at third. The home runs by Thames and Encarnacion to get back into the game but both were single home runs.
The not so good: Litsch unfortunately, the three run home run which was the difference in this game. The first inning also with two on and one down and Jays could not score. Escobar and Wise the only two not to get on base. Camp takes the loss but I don’t think he should be pitching right now.
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