Jays had no game yesterday so they should be rested after a day on the golf course and home cooking. Tonight, Brett Lawrie makes his first appearance in Toronto, poor guy I hope he can stand the hype. Toronto media are full of it today, that is some pressure for a 21 year old. Looks like a good crowd here tonight, many here for Lawrie. Toronto has had rain all day so the roof was closed, but at 6.30 but as soon as Oakland finish batting practice (pure coincidence) they open it or at least try to open it, half the roof stuck even now at first pitch. Along with no Budweiser trivia contest more technical issues. Not good omens here already. Tonight Cecil versus another Canadian Rich Harden.
Line-ups: Oakland: Weeks, Pennington, Matsui, Willingham, Jackson, DeJesus, Suzuki, Sweeney, Sizemore and Harden pitching.
Jays: Escobar, Thames, back in the line-up, he had better perform, Bautista, Lind, Encarncion, Rasmus, Hill (I don’t believe it, how can Farrell play him?) Arencibia, Lawrie and Cecil pitching.
Top 1st: Weeks leading off pops up to Escobar at short, one down. Pennington grounds to Escobar throw to Lind at first. Matsui, always a pain for the Jays even when he was with the Yankees, but he had plenty of supporters here tonight. Fly ball to centre to Rasmus in centre, three up and down for Cecil, good start..
Bottom 1st: Escobar leading off, first pitch singles to left. Thames now, is he bunting? no, first pitch swinging, fly ball to Sweeney in centre, that was one bonehead play Eric..Your job is get that guy to second and in scoring position, should you chose not to accept the mission then move on down the order and let someone else hit there. Bautista, one on one down, pops it up to Sizemore at third, no chance for Yunel to move up. Two down for Lind who has been deep in a slump for far too long, groan strikes out. Jays waste that leadoff single. Cecil will have to do it himself tonight if this continues. At least hey have fixed the roof closin g mechanism and the roof is now fully open.
Top 2nd: Willingham, leading off, strikes out. First strike out for Cecil. Jackson, grounds back to Cecil throw to Lind. Two down for DeJesus, fly ball to Bautista in right. Good inning for Cecil.
Bottom 2nd: Encarnacion leading off, gets hold of this pitch, high fly ball to left, say goodbye to this one, home run Edwin and Jays strike first 1-0. Rasmus pops it up to Pennington at short. One down for Hill, pops it up to Jackson at first, two down. Arencibia, full count, ball four. One on for Lawrie, listen to that reception. Huge welcome for Brett, they are standing all around me and now around the ballpark. Poor kid, this is much too much pressure but let’s get it out of the way and let him hit. Not this time the other Canuck strikes him out. Jays strike first but leave runner out there.
Top 3rd: Suzuki leading off, grounds to Escobar throw to Lind. One down for Sweeney, grounds to Lind at first, takes it himself. Sizemore, another full count and ball four to walk with two down. Weeks singles to left, Sizemore moves to third. Weeks to second on the throw to third. That was not a smart throw by Thames, should have gone to second. Weeks moves to second on throw to third. Pennington, two down, two on strikes out. That was huge out for Cecil.
Bottom 3rd: Jays leadoff again. Escobar singles to centre. One on for Thames, grounds to Jackson at first, throw to Pennington at the bag at second to get Escobar. One down for Bautista, oh we don`t often see this, Jose grounds back to pitcher Harden throw to Weeks at second over to Jackson at first, double play ball to end the inning.
Top 4th: Matsui, leading off, fly ball to Rasmus in centre, he has it, one down. Willingham ouch, hit by a pitch. Jackson one on one down, fly ball to Bautista in right, two down. DeJesus fly ball to Thames in left for third out.
Bottom 4th: Lind fly ball to Willingham in left, one down. Encarnacion singles to left. His second hit of the night. Rasmus pops up Willingham in left, two down. Hill same play again, Willingham is a busy guy out there making all three outs.
Top 5th: Suzuki, leading off, grounds to Hill throw to Lind, one down. Sweeney, full count, ball four and walk to Sweeney. One down for Sizemore, lines it hard to left, whoa great catch by Escobar but oh where is the double play? Yunel admiring his own great play that he seems to have forgotten there is another guy Sweeney at first who was half way to second, he could have doubled him up. Not our Yunel, was still enjoying the catch. I hope that does not come back to haunt the Jays. Top of the order, grounds hard top third, oh a great diving play by Lawrie and a bullet to Lind who falls off the bag but makes the play, Escobar is off the hook. And Cecil has two great defensive plays to help him out here. Top of the order again, Weeks, grounds to Lawrie, throw to Lind. Third out.
Bottom 5th: Arencibia, leading off, strikes out, one down for Lawrie, another nice reception by the crowd they are willing him to get a hit here. Not this time however as he flies to Sweeney in centre for second out. Escobar lined out to second baseman J.Weeks.
Top 6th: Pennington leading off, singles to Rasmus in centre. One on for Matsui, strikes out. That is good. Willingham, NO !!!! Hammers this one to left and over the wall, home run for the A`s but this time two score. 3-1 Oakland. Jackson pops up to Bautista in right, one down for DeJesus, strikes out.
Bottom 6th: Jays need to get a run back here. Thames leading off, strikes out. One down for Bautista, strikes out. Two down for Lind, strikes out. That was one poor hitting display by Jays top of the order.
Top 7th: Cecil still out there despite struggling the last couple of innings. Suzuki leading off, oh no this is trouble, hammers this to left and over the fence, another home run for the A’s. 4-1 Oakland and that is probably the game today. Sweeney, lines it very hard to right but a great play by Lind to save a double. Sizemore strikes out. Two down for top of the order Weeks, grounds to Lawrie at third throw to Lind for the third out.
Bottom 7th: Encarnacion, two hits already tonight, 3-0 count and ball four. Leadoff walk. One on for Rasmus singles down first base line, Edwin goes to third on the play, Jays have something going here, two on nobody out and runner at third. Hill, is he bunting ? no way, flailing away here and pops it up to Weeks at second, that was one terrible at bat, one down now the double play is in order for Arencibia, surely Hill knowing how badly he is hitting could have a sacrifice bunt there to bring in Edwin from third? Arencibia, strikes out, two down for Lawrie. Hero or not, full count, good at bat, strikes out. Jays unable to bring in a guy from third with nobody out. That is inexcusable in three tries. I give the two rookies the benefit of the doubt here but Hill ??? should not be in the line-up period. Farrell has a real problem that he has to look at second. He cannot play Hill out there for the next six weeks.
Top 8th: Luis Perez now pitching. Pennington fly ball to Bautista in right, one down. Matsui grounds to Hill at second throw to Lind, two down. Willingham fly ball to Rasmus in centre.
Bottom 8th: Balfour now pitching. Escobar grounds to Sizemore at third, throw to Jackson at first for the out, one down for Thames, hitless tonight, there we go Eric a little late but doubles to left. Bautista, grounds to Pennington at short, throw to Jackson at first, Thames to third but Jose out. Lind with runner at third, Jays have no luck tonight with this play. Nor this time as he lines it to Willingham in left to end the inning and leave yet another at third.
Top 9th: Frank Francisco now pitching. Jackson grounds to Hill at second, throw to Lind at first, one down. DeJesus, ouch hits him on the arm, that would hurt from Frankie, he throws hard. Here comes Manager Farrell. Camp now pitching, he needs a ground ball here. Suzuki oh a perfect bunt here, goes five feet up the line, not sure why Camp went for it and not Arencibia, but no time for a throw as Suzuki can run and safe at first, DeJesus to second. And that is the play that Thames and Hill should have done earlier in this game. Sweeney with two on, singles to Rasmus, here comes DeJesus and A’s g out 4-1. Suzuki to second, two on for Sizemore, fly ball to Bautista in right, two down for top of the order Weeks, same play, fly ball to Bautista to ends the inning but Oakland has added a huge run.
Bottom 9th: I am amazed at how many people are still here tonight. Bailey now pitching. In for his 14th save, has only blown two all season. Not easy for the Jays. Encarnacion has been on base three times tonight, 3-0 count, ball four, make that on base four times tonight, walks on four pitches, two walks and two hits, at least someone has performed. Teahen now pinch-running for Encarnacion not that the run is crucial one. Rasmus fly ball to Sweeney in centre, one down. Hill, not sure why he is still in the game let alone hitting here, fly ball to DeJesus in right. Arencibia, there goes Teahen, defensive indifference and Teahen at second. Arencibia fly ball to DeJesus in right for third out. There goes the game and worse for the big crowd still here it leaves Lawrie in the on deck circle. I think they were hoping to see Brett get one more at bat.
Jays lose the opener and give one away after taking the early lead.
The good: Cecil sort of, Encarnacion really the only hitter today on base four times, and Rasmus with the hit to get two on and nobody out. Great fielding plays by Escobar, Lawrie and Lind.
The very bad: Jays could probably have used some batting practice yesterday instead of a day of, that was pitiful today. Runners in scoring position ? You really do not want to know the answer to that, 0-6 tonight leaving seven on base. That is spring training ball. They sleepwalked through the game and kept the big crowd out of for most of the game. No use Rogers Centre trying to get the crowd noisy in the later innings. There was nothing to cheer about and it would not help their team much tonight. Perhaps the loss is a cold shower to get them going tomorrow but.... rookie pitcher for the Jays... that is far too much pressure on the kid without major run support. Meantime Rays win again and get further ahead. Hill the big Billy Goat Gruff tonight, Lind not far behind and even Thames in that first inning with Escobar on base, you have to move him over Eric, that is what a number two guy does. Where is Travis ? Bautista and Lind 0-8, that hurts. Time for Lind to step up and take some pressure away from Bautista, who looks exhausted and average sinking fast.
Will Farrell bow to the obvious and get Hill out of there for the rest of the season? Johnny Mc. went 3-4 on Sunday that deserved a second game, more so when it was Farrell himself that said the team would select itself on performance. Hmmm short memory this guy. Whilst you are at it John, please put Lind out of his agony and move him down the order, he looks totally lost out there right now. BUT I will give him credit for his fielding at first, he has done extremely well.
They announce the crowd at more than 20,000 tonight and for a Tuesday evening that is excellent. Lawrie brought in about 5-6,000 people tonight. Fans will turn out for exciting baseball but unfortunately tonight was a damp squib.
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