Royals v Jays. Series finale (and decider)
Third game of the series but tonight another newbie second base Kelly Johnson from the Diamondbacks. Hitting in front of Lawrie tonight. Reading the media reports, Atlanta coach Pendleton reckons he is the real thing but sounds like the same personality as Rasmus. We will see. Big plus of course is that he and Escobar would have turned double plays in Atlanta. Yankees have already won and Tampa has lost, chance for Jays to pick up one here.
Line-ups: Royals: First break for the Jays not having Gordon leading off. He was a pain last night for Romero. Giavotella, Cabrera, Butler, Hosmer, Francouer, Moustakas, Perez, Maier, Escobar and Canadian Jeff Francis pitching.
Jays: Escobar, Thames, Bautista, Encarnacion, Lind, Lawrie, Johnson, Arencibia, McCoy and Cecil pitching
Top 1st: Giavotella, full count, bounces to Escobar at short, throw to Lind, one down for Cabrera 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down for Butler, 2-1 lines it hard to third, nice catch by Lawrie. 15 pitches.
Bottom 1st: Escobar, pops up to Francouer in right, one down for Thames. First pitch, oh boy fly ball to left two down, please John move this guy down the line-up. Bautista, full count, outside ball four, one on for Encarnacion. Not sure this makes much difference between Lind or Edwin in another mini-slump right now. Grounds up the middle to second throw to Hosmer at first for third out. 16 pitches.
Top 2nd: Hosmer, bounces to Lind, takes it himself for the out, one down for Francouer, grounds to Lawrie, throw to Lind, two down. Moustakas, 2-2 pops it up to McCoy playing centre tonight. Pitch count 25.
Bottom 2nd: Lind, 2-2 count, grounds to second, throw to first, one down for Lawrie. Singles back up the middle. Johnson, first at bat as a Blue Jay. Pops up to Hosmer at first, that’s ok Kelly get it out of the way and now settle in, two down for Arencibia, a nubber in front of home plate, there goes Lawrie, but throw to first gets Arencibia. Pitch count 28.
Top 3rd: Perez leading off. 3-1 count, this trouble lines it into left field corner, stand up double. Maier popped up to Lawrie at third, Escobar, one down one on, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind, two down. Giavotella, singles to McCoy in centre, here comes Perez. Throw not in time Arencibia throw to second not in time. 1-0 Royals. Cabrera with runner at second, two down 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. But Jays are behind once again. Cecil 43 pitch count.
Bottom 3rd: McCoy, bunting first pitch throw to first and out once again on the first pitch, McCoy has to be told about this, he does it every game. Waste of an at bat. Escobar, first pitch fly ball to left, two pitches two down. Thames, lines it to the wall in centre, all the way to third. Bautista, with two down. Here we go, intentional walk, two on. Encarnacion, 1-2 count, fly ball to right for third out, Edwin leaving two more on. Pitch count 39.
Top 4th: Butler leading off. Pops it up and drops between Johnson and Bautista, just fair, miscommunication there between the two, however the good news is that Johnson had the speed to get to the play. He will be ok once he gets to play more with Jose and the others. Hosmer, grounds to Lind, one down and Butler to third. Francouer, pops it up to very shallow centre to McCoy no chance to tag and score. Two down. Moustakas, singles back up the middle and here comes Butler, 2-0 Kansas. Perez first pitch pop up to McCoy in centre. Pitch count 52.
Bottom 4th: Jays once again having to come from behind, Francis cruising tonight so far. Lind, 1-2 count, strikes out looking, one down for Lawrie, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down. Kelly Johnson, full count, ball four, walk for Kelly, at least he is not swinging wildly like some of his new teammates Arencibia, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. 61 pitches.
Top 5th: Maier pops it up to Bautista in shallow centre. One down. Escobar, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind two down. Giavotella, grounds to Lawrie great backhand save and long throw to Lind to get the third out. Six pitch inning for Cecil. 58 pitches.
Bottom 5th: McCoy, not bunting, 2-2 count, leading off. Lines to Maier in left for the out. Escobar bounces to Escobar, throw to Hosmer two down. Thames. Pops up to Maier in left. This is much too easy for Francis tonight. 71 pitch count. This game is just over the one hour mark, what is the hurry?
Top 6th: Cabrera, lines it into the corner in right, stand up double. Butler, no need for him to bunt, full count, singles to McCoy in centre, Cabrera to third on the play, two on and nobody out. Hosmer, this should do it, pops up to Thames in left but Cabrera holds at third. One down for Francouer singles up the middle, here comes Cabrera, 3-0 Royals. Two on one down. Moustakas, 0-2 count, grounds to Johnson, throw to Escobar, no chance to double up, two down. Runners at first and third for Perez, lucky escape there as he lines it to left corner but just foul, saves two runs. 1-2 count, singles to Thames in left, here comes the run, throw to third and Perez to second, two more in scoring position 4-0 Royals. This is embarrassing for the Jays. Maier, full count, Cecil in danger of loading them up. High ball four. Here comes Bruce Walton but I fear far too late Bruce. Camp working in bullpen. Escobar, Bronx cheers for a strike. 0-2 count, just misses, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, but what a mess. A 34 pitch inning and now 92 pitch count. I guess the game was going too quickly. That inning took 23 minutes.
Bottom 6th: Bautista, even Jose cannot score four here. This will be a grind back in to this game for a Jays team that is playing lousy ball right now, and totally without any hitting. Francis much too good to give up four, should get this win barring a major collapse and revival by Jays hitters. This is a start as Jose doubles to centre. But does Jose have any support ? Encarnacion and Lind to date have been missing for far too long. Encarnacion, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. One down for Lind, who has not been seen since the All-Star break. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging on three pitches. Oh boy. Lawrie, 2-0 count, Francis pitching around Lawrie here. 2-1 count, drives it to the wall in centre but Cabrera makes a great catch up against the wall. Close but not enough. Leadoff double left out there. Manager Farrell has a major problem with his hitters. Pitch count 84.
Top 7th: Surprise, Cecil still out there. Giavotella, full count, drives to right Bautista makes nice running catch. One down for Cabrera, this one is high into left and home run for Cabrera. 5-0 Royals. Now Farrell comes out and you really have to question his judgement sending Cecil out there to start the inning when he had obviously struggled with 34 pitches in the last inning. Not the first time Farrell has shown that he is a pitcher’s pitcher, well sometimes objectivity is needed John. Camp now with one down. Butler, off the end of his bat up third base line and Camp unable to get the ball and Butler safe at first. When the team is playing this badly these things are going to be the norm. Hosmer singles into centre. Francouer singles to Bautista in right, bases loaded once again. Moustakas taps in front of home plate, both Arencibia and Camp go for it, WHY is Arencibia doing that, nobody at home plate as runner comes home but Camp makes the play himself to beat him out. Brain spasm by Arencibia. Two down. Bases still loaded. Perez, full count, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind for third out and Camp strands three but Jays have little time left to get back into this one as Francis threatens to shut them out tonight.
Bottom 7th: Kelly Johnson leading off. There we go Kelly, singles to left. His first hit as a Jay. Arencibia, FINALLY he contributes something, lines it over the fence in left centre, a golf swing, two run home run. 5-2 game. Long overdue for some offence from Arencibia but he chose the right time to get a hit. McCoy, perhaps even he can get a hit here. 1-2 count, singles to left, Kelly Johnson has woken everybody up here, even McCoy. Three consecutive hits. And that is it for Francis. Gets a good hand from Jays crowd who would definitely trade for him right now. Greg Holland now pitching. Top of the order Escobar, 0-3 tonight. hitless along with Lind and Encarnacion tonight and that is NOT good. McCoy making him throw over several times here. 1-2 count, grounds to Escobar at short throw to second on to first Escobar safe at first. Major escape there. Sometimes Yunel can hustle. Thames, one down one on. Wild pitch and Escobar to second. 2-2 count. Another wild pitch but this time is blocked. Full count, strikes out swinging. Two down for Bautista, will they walk him? No, they are pitching to him. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. Jays get two but can they get more?
Top 8th: Camp still pitching, Maier leading off. Lines it to the wall in centre, McCoy nowhere near it. We forget how easy Vernon made those plays. Maier stand up triple. Escobar, 0-2 count, grounds to Johnson, throw to Lind, Maier holds at third. One down for Giavotella, 2-0 count, grounds to Johnson a bullet back to Arencibia and tags Maier for second out. Great play. Cabrera, 2-1 count, singles to McCoy in centre, two on two down for Butler, 3-4 tonight and not the guy you want to see here. Doubles to the wall in left over the head of Thames. That was catchable, but not by Thames. Two runs score. 7-2 Royals and that clears the crowd out here. Butler 4-5 night. Rommie Lewis now pitching. Two down and runner at second. Hosmer, 1-2 count, grounds back to Lewis, throw to Lind for the out but this game may be out of reach.
Bottom 8th: Unless the Jays hitters can have their biggest inning of the series then this game is over. Jays need five again. Holland still out there. Encarnacion, hitless tonight and for far too long. full count, finally a hit for Edwin, lines it to the wall in centre, leadoff double. Now Lind also hitless tonight the only one without a hit. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging and Lind continues his own futility at bat. Lawrie, lines it to Francouer, bounces away from Francouer, Lawrie motoring all the way to third, wow Lawrie has speed, and run scores 7-3. If that had bounced further away from Francouer Lawrie would have had in the park home run. I can see one of those happening soon if Lawrie keeps this up. One down. Johnson with Lawrie at third. Full count, ball four, nice at bat Kelly. Two on one down for Arencibia, this will do fly ball to centre, Lawrie tags and comes home 7-4 Johnson also tags and safe at second. McCoy with Johnson in scoring position. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. That is the problem, Jays bench does not have anyone to replace McCoy.
Top 9th: Lewis still out there. Francouer, ouch Lewis hits him on the shinbone. That hurts. Toughing it out and staying in the game. Moustakas, full count, pops it up to Arencibia. oh no, he drops it, wow, error on Arencibia. Doubles to the wall in right centre and Francouer scores, 8-4 Royals, that error hurts bigtime JP. End of Rommie Lewis, one inning too much. Jesse Litsch now, nobody out yet. Runner at second for Perez. Wild pitch gets away from Arencibia. Runner to third. Perez strikes out, one down for Maier, full count, fouling them off here, ten pitch at bat, lines it to right, over head of Bautista but great over the head catch two down but Moustakas tags and run scores. 9-4 Royals. Escobar drives it to McCoy in centre for third out.
Bottom 9th: Top of Jays order, it will be interesting to see how they do here. They need five ! Soria the closer in to finish it off. Escobar, hitless 0-4 tonight. Full count, fly ball to Maier in right, Escobar 0-5 night. one down for Thames. Strikes out swinging, two down for Bautista. Two walks and a double tonight, 1-2 count, singles into left. One on two down for Encarnacion, I don’t believe it lines to right corner and just creeps over the fence, two run home run, 9-6 game. Lind now hitless tonight. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging and his miserable night comes to an end.
Jays lose a home series to the second worst team in the majors after Baltimore. They have lost to the Astros, Oakland, Seattle and now Kansas. What does it take to get this team hitting? Maybe a new hitting coach. This team is still missing some parts and that is an understatement.
Tampa must be licking their lips to get here for the four games series. This could be one miserable weekend for Jays fans as Rays could sweep this team the way they are playing.
Interesting also to see how much defence plays a part both McCoy and Thames missed chances and the popup that Arencibia dropped.
The good: Kelly Johnson made nice debut, on base three times with single and two walks and a run, and a couple of solid defensive plays. One mix up with Bautista in right but that will improve once they get used to each other. Encarnacion with two hits double and home run showed signs of coming out of his latest slump. Lawrie what more can this kid do. Two hit night with the triple that was almost a in the park home run. Lawrie did everything he could and should with bat and glove. Bautista two hits and two walks, showed his leadership but not many followers tonight.
The very bad: Mike McCoy will he ever get over this silly lead off bunting attempts? Everyone is ready for it with him and he is never successful. We have been seeing this futility from McCoy since Dunedin in March, get real Mike this is the big leagues. Jays 2 for10 with runners in scoring position BUT Royals were even worse going 7 for 21.
Defence: Thames and McCoy missing outfield chances and then Arencibia dropping a pop up, should never happen at this level. McCoy issue will be solved with Rasmus return but left field is still an issue. Thames does not have the glove.
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