Angels v Jays Game three Series finale.
Series decider today but a tough one for the Jays going up against Dan Haren another excellent starter. Jays beat Weaver yesterday but somehow I don’t expect them to score eleven against Haren. Plus Haren has never lost in Toronto in four starts. Cecil pitching for the Jays and let us hope that he is on his game. I anticipated a sweep by the Angels, so far they have lost one so the Jays have done better than expected.
Line-ups: Angels: Bourjos, Callaspo, Abreu, Hunter, Trumbo, Wells, Kendrick, Aybar, Wilson and Haren pitching.
Jays: Escobar, Thames, Bautista back in the line-up after a day off, let us hope he has found his hitting groove which has been missing for a week or so. Lind, Encarnacion, Rasmus back in the line-up, Lawrie, Arencibia, McDonald getting a start for the second day in a row and not unexpected, fine with me as Hill really is no longer producing. It will be interesting to see how management plays Hill for the rest of the season. Cecil pitching.
Tom Henke in the ballpark, gets a great reception, Jays have never had such a good closer since Henke.
Top 1st: Bourjos leading off, high fly ball to Thames in left, one down for Callaspo, drives to right for Bautista, two down, four pitches two outs, Abreu singles to left, one on for Hunter, 2-0 count, oh dear, leaves this one up and Hunter lines it high into left field seats, home run Hunter, 2-0 Angels. Very annoying as we have a Hunter fan sitting in front of us and he is very excited. I hope we are not going to see Hunter have a good game today. Trumbo, 2-2 strikes out swinging.
Bottom 1st: Escobar, check swing off the end of his bat to first, and Trumbo throw to Haren beats Escobar to the bag at first. Thames, strikes out swinging, Bautista, full count, strikes out looking, Jose does not like that call.
Top 2nd: Wells, pulls it to Lawrie at third, throw to Lind for the out. Kendrick, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind, two down. Aybar, bunting and pops it in the air, oh great play by Lawrie who speeds in from third to make the catch, great reflex and great speed made that out.
Bottom 2nd: Lind, strikes out looking, Encarnacion, full count, lines it to Aybar at short, nice catch, two down, Rasmus. Pops it up to Callaspo for third out. This game is moving fast.
Top 3rd: Wilson, 0-2 grounds it back to Cecil, nonchalant puts out his pitching hand and throw to Lind for the out. Bourjos, this is trouble, lines it to the wall in right centre, safe at third, triple number eight for Bourjos, he is one speedy player. Callaspo, 3-0 Cecil needs a strike here. this will do it, fly ball to Bautista in right to make the catch, Bourjos tags and scores 3-0 Angels. Two down for Abreu, 2-2 count, strikes out.
Bottom 3rd: Jays facing uphill battle here. Lawrie leading off. Grounds to Callaspo at third, throw just beats a speedy Lawrie at first. Arencibia, pops it up to Hunter in right, two down for John McDonald. Grounds to third, Callaspo throw to get Johnny Mc at first. Nine up and down for Haren.
Top 4th: Hunter, 3-0 count, lines it to left oh what a great catch by Lawrie diving to his left, robs Hunter there. Trumbo, strikes out swinging, two down for Wells. Pulls it to Escobar, throw to Lind for the out. Cecil settling down here but he needs run support.
Bottom 4th: Escobar, full count, strikes out swinging, one down for Thames, hammers this one, high into right centre seats, Bautista, does not like that call, 2-1, he likes this pitch though, drives it hard and high to centre into the seats, home run swing Jose, number 34, back to back home runs, and Jays are back in this game 3-2. Lind, grounds to second, Kendrick throw to first for the out, Encarnacion. Lines first pitch to right for the out.
Top 5th: Kendrick, 2-2 count, grounds to Lawrie, throw to Lind, one down. Aybar, high fly ball to Rasmus in centre, two down. Wilson, lines it to left centre, bounces over the wall, ground rule double. One on two down and the top of the order. Bourjos, 1-2 count, lines it to Thames in left, here comes Wilson 4-2 Angels. Bourjos into second, Callaspo, full count, lines it to right but Bautista makes the catch for third out.
Bottom 5th: Rasmus, lines it hard opposite field to Wells in left, one down for Lawrie. Full count, just misses here huge hit to left and fifth deck facing. Hammers this one as well to centre, just missed a home run as it is caught at the wall by Bourjos. Arencibia, bounces back to Haren throw to first for the out. Jays hit Haren hard that inning but no result.
Top 6th: Abreu leading off. High pop up to Escobar at short, one down. Hunter 0-2 count, high fly ball to left for Thames to make the catch. The Hunter fan is not very happy but we like his quietness. Trumbo pops it up to Rasmus for third out.
Bottom 6th: Johnny Mc. beautiful, lines it hard inside the bat at third, into left field corner, double for Johnny Mc. had a chance to go to third as the throw in misses cut-off guy. Someone has to bring him in here. Escobar, does not like that call, come on Yunel don`t get the umpire all riled up here, takes his mask off to Escobar. Lines to Hunter in right and Johnny Mc. tags and gets to third, one down. Thames, 2-2 Haren now does not like the call. Wow same again, both looked strikes from here. Full count, grounds to short, here comes McDonald to score the run. 4-3 Angels. Bautista, 2-2 count, singles over Aybar at short into left field. Lind, drives to right centre, oh what a great leaping catch by Kendrick at second to rob Lind of base hit and maybe an rbi with Jose running. One run game.
Top 7th: Wells, hammers this one to left field wall, Thames makes a brilliant running diving catch and falling over hangs on to the ball for the out on the track. He robbed Vernon there of at least a double. Kendrick, grounds to McDonald, throw to Lind for second out. Aybar, lines to Bautista in right to make the third out. Cecil still only 85 pitch count, he has been very economical today.
Bottom 7th: Encarnacion, singles into left, one on for Rasmus, turns on this one and lines it into right third deck just foul, 1-2 count, strikes out looking. Lawrie, 2-2 count, pops it up to Kendrick in foul ground at first. Two down Arencibia, grounds to Aybar at short, throw to the bag at second for third out.
Top 8th: Casey Janssen now pitching even though Cecil had only 85 pitch count. Wilson leading off. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Bourjos, pulls it to Lawrie at third, throw to Lind, two down. Callaspo, high pop up to Escobar for third out.
Bottom 8th: Jays running out of at bats. Ex-Jay Scott Downs now pitching. Haren had 109 pitch count and leaves with the lead. Downs to hold the lead here and leave the closer to finish off. McDonald leading off. Grounds up the middle and beats the throw by Kendrick to first. Hendrick was going away from the bag and had to turn to make the play which cost him the base hit. Escobar bunting and a good one up the line at first, McDonald to second on the play, One down for Thames, no pinch hitter Rajai Davis. Interesting switch although Davis more speed if he gets on base and also may be better lefty hitter. Davis fouling them off here, good at bat, 11 pitch at bat, full count, ground ball to Aybar, throw to Callaspo to get Johnny Mc running on contact. Davis pulls up injured, looks like a hamstring. Leaving the game, that is definitely not good to lose Rajai for any length of time. Teahen now pinch running. Bautista 3-1 count, singles into left, oh dear that would have scored Johnny Mc. if he was still in there. Teahen at second for Lind. Lefty matchup with Lind, 0-2 count, grounds to first, takes it himself for the out. Jays miss golden opportunity to tie this one up. Running out of chances now and Angels closer Walden to face in the 9th. Lots of tension in this game today but a one run game can be more entertaining than a blowout.
Top 9th: Francisco now pitching. Abreu singles to Bautista in right, this is not good Frankie. Hunter, there goes Abreu on the first pitch and safe at second on the throw. Francisco making it hard on himself here. This is ok, pops it up to Lawrie at third one down. Trumbo, 0-2 Abreu takes third without a throw, crowd around us do not like that. Francisco was not holding the runner. Now a wild pitch can score Abreu. 0-2 count, grounds to Lawrie, oh what a play, Lawrie goes to the bag following Abreu throw to Arencibia back to Lawrie who tags him out and then runs towards first seeing Trumbo off the bag at first, throw behind Trumbo to Lind over to Johnny Mc and run him down for a great game saving inning double play. WOW what a heads up play by young Lawrie, Crowd is going wild here, and rightly so, Lawrie has done everything this first ten days. This kid is baseball smart far beyond his years. The Hunter fan is not a happy guy right now.
Bottom 9th: Crowd still abuzz here, no need for the Jumbotron to ask us to stand and cheer, that Lawrie double play did it. However with Jordan Walden now pitching and his 26 saves, Jays have a huge task to get this tie run. Get out the heart medication. Encarnacion, pops it up to Hunter in right, one down. Rasmus, whoa, lines this one to centre and off the top of the wall, missed going out by inches. That is such a sweet swing and earns him a stand up double. And look who is at bat, Lawrie, always seems to be in the centre of the activity somehow. Full count, Brett thought that pitch was outside but this umpire has been giving that outside pitch all afternoon. This will do it though, Lawrie hammers this to left and here comes Rasmus to score and tie this one up, 4-4. Wow, we are all going crazy here. No need to tell us to jump up and down. What a game. Now can they bring in Lawrie to win this one. Arencibia with one down and one in scoring position. 2-2 count, there goes Lawrie and safe at third without a throw. His first stolen base. Arencibia strikes out, come on JP a tap would have been enough. McDonald 2-3 today with single and a double, all we need is a base hit Johnny Mc. 3-1 count, pops it up to Aybar at short to end this with Lawrie at third. On to extra innings but they may not get another chance like that.
Top 10th: Jon Rauch now pitching. Vernon Wells leading off. Pops it up to Bautista in right, one down. Kendrick, 0-2 grounds to Lawrie throw to Lind for second out. Aybar, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging to end the inning. Very nice pitching by Jon Rauch.
Bottom 10th: Top of the Jays order, can they do it here. You can feel the momentum shifting but they still have to score a run. Fernando Rodney now pitching. Escobar leading off. Full count, Escobar thought ball four, nit happy but Yunel you didn’t get umpire on your side earlier in the game, outside ball four. Teahen, now why is he bunting, all it will do is leave first base open to walk Bautista. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. Bautista, great day for Jose 3-4 day. 2-2 count, outside ball three, full count, loses him ball four. Two on one down for Lind. Lots of excitement here right now, not many have left this game which is unusual. That is it for Rodney. Takahshi left lefty match up with Lind 0-4 today, 1-2 count, groan, pops it up to Trumbo at first, two down for Encarnacion. There we go Edwin, lines it to left centre, here comes Escobar and Jays have won this one 5-4 and the series 2-1. An amazing game this afternoon, we are all physically drained with the emotion in that one. A long time since we had an exciting game like this one.
This was one game that I was thinking it didn’t matter who won it was a great game to be at in fact one of the most exciting of the season that I have been at. It had everything. Two excellent pitchers, some excellent defence from both teams, catches by Aybar and Kendrick robbing Jays of hits and Lawrie, and Thames doing the same on the Angels. And the hitting all-round was a treat to watch. Add in the tension and excitement of the last two innings and this one was well worth the money today.
Lawrie with his glove, catch off the bunt pop up in the second inning, his speed enabled him to get the ball before Arencibia even moved. His catch off Hunter in the fourth to rob him of extra bases. The double play was the defensive highlight for me and many others. Lawrie with his bat, Rasmus with his bat to get that leadoff double in the 9th and Lawries double to bring him in. I like these two hitting next to each other in the order. The back to back home runs by Thames and Bautista. Great afternoon by Bautista 3-4 plus a walk.
The pitching of Cecil who started off badly but hung in there until the 8th and kept that pitch count way down. Janssen to hold the Angels and Rauch excellent inning to win this one.
Not so good: The loss of Davis on the DL.
Not many fans gave the Jays much hope against three of the best pitchers in the American League but the team played well and defeated not only the starting pitchers but also one of the best closers in Walden. Jays finish the home stand strong with these two wins and head out on the road west with an upbeat team.
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