Yankees v Jays. Game one of three.
Cecil not pitching, cut himself cleaning a blender ? in Boston. What is wrong with this guy and blades? Was this not the same guy who cut himself cooking chicken in Spring training in Dunedin? And he is a pitcher. So McGowan is now pitching, let us all pray that he has better outing than his last time. BUT it is incredible story just to see him out there so we should be thankful for that. Tough matchup with Sabathia going for his win number 20. You know that the Yankees want some easy wins to clinch the division and there will be no easy games this weekend for the Jays. Colby Rasmus back in the line-up. Good crowd here tonight, should be over 30,000 judging from where the security is positioned in the fifth deck.
Line-ups: Yankees: Jeter, Granderson, Teixeira, Cano, Swisher, Chavez, Posada, Martin, Gardner and Sabathia pitching. No A-Rod.
Jays: McCoy, Thames, Bautista, Encarnacion, Lind, Lawrie, Rasmus, Arencibia, Johnson and McGowan pitching. I like this line-up. Good to see Rasmus back. Interesting, Lind is moved out of clean-up spot for Encarnacion. Adam you need to start hitting more consistently.
Top 1st: Jeter leading off, not sure why he is getting all these boos, but with A-Rod no-one else to boo I guess. Ah well wait until Burnett pitches, if he does. Jeter grounds to McCoy, throw to Lind. One out for Granderson, strikes out, crowd loves that. Teixeira grounds to Lawrie, throw to Lind and McGowan has clean three up and down inning.
Bottom 1st: McCoy leading off, Escobar still nursing that elbow injury. That will do Mikey, singles past Sabathia into centre. Thames, strikes out. One on one down for Bautista, singles into to right, McCoy all the way to third. Jays have something going early. Two on for Encarnacion, grounds to Chavez at third, throws to Cano at second but Bautista all over him and no chance for double play as McCoy comes home 1-0 Jays. Lind with Edwin at first, there goes Edwin and safe at second. Lind strikes out to strand Edwin but Jays have taken the early lead off Sabathia which is the important fact here.
Top 2nd: Cano leading off, lines it into the right field corner, going for two, here comes the throw by Jose, and he gets him, a bullet one bouncer to McCoy for the out. Great play, they never seem to learn about running on Jose. Swisher, grounds to Lawrie, throw to Lind for the final out. Another good inning for McGowan.
Bottom 2nd: Lawrie leading off, grounds to Cano, throw to Teixeira, one down for Rasmus. Colby’s first at bat since his return. Strikes out, two down for Arencibia, pops it up a mile high, Jeter makes the catch for third out. If JP had flattened that one out it would still be going west.
Top 3rd: Posada, grounds to Johnson at second, throw to Lind for the out. Martin, strikes him out, nice pitch Dustin. Gardner, this is a guy like Scutaro who has given the Jays so many headaches this season with bat, glove and his stolen bases. 3-0 count, ball four. This is the last guy you want to walk Dustin. One on two down for Jeter. There goes Gardner, not wasting any time and safe at second on the throw. There he goes again and safe at third without a throw. Back to Jeter Dustin, that’s better strikes out looking. Captain Jeter does not like the call and stays in the box discussing it with umpire. No change to the call.
Bottom 3rd: Johnson, singles to left. McCoy running bunt I think that was what is was, but if you have seen McCoy in action you know what I mean, up the first base line, Teixeira not in time as McCoy slides into first. Looks as if Teixeira was in two minds there whether to throw to second or go to first and by the time he turned the speedy McCoy was past him. Two on as Johnson reaches second. Thames, fly ball to Granderson in centre, Johnson tags and moves to third. One down for Bautista, pitching around Jose here, ball four and bases loaded, Sabathia taking his chances with Edwin. Ok Edwin, just a base hit here.NO, the very worst, grounds back to Sabathia, throws to Martin over to Teixeira, double play to end this one. Major opportunity lost there and I don’t think they will get many against Sabathia, you have to take them.
Top 4th: Yankees with a life. Granderson, full count, ball four, leadoff walk. Teixeira with one on grounds to Lawrie, throw to McCoy to get Granderson. No chance for two. Cano grounds to Lind, throw to McCoy to get Teixeira, no chance for two. McGowan trying hard with the ground balls. Swisher, lines it to centre, this is trouble, Cano scores 1-1 game. Chavez, OH NO, gets hold of this pitch and hammers it to centre and over the wall, here comes Swisher, here comes Chavez and Yankees go out ahead 3-1. Posada fly ball to centre Rasmus makes the third out but Yankees storm back and all with two outs.
Bottom 4th: Sabathia with the lead now, good luck to the Jays hitters. Lind leading off, good start as he singles into centre. Lawrie with one on, strikes out. One on one down for Rasmus, strikes out. Two down for Arencibia, gets hold of this one, high fly ball to left, but great leaping catch at the wall by Gardner. That was very close but we have seen this before from Gardner. Arencibia has had two very hard hit at bats.
Top 5th: Martin leading off, grounds to McCoy, throw to Lind, one down. Gardner, grounds to Johnson throw to Lind, two down for Jeter. Strikes out for second time. Excellent inning for McGowan especially after giving up the lead last inning.
Bottom 5th: Johnson leading off, singles to centre, 2-2 today. McCoy strikes out. Bautista one on one down, once again they are not pitching to him, full count, ball four. Sabathia not giving him the chance. Encarnacion, ball four to load the bases. One down for Lind, there we go Adam, lines this one to left, here comes Johnson, here comes Bautista, here comes Encarnacion three runs score and Jays take back the lead, 4-3. Lind two hits today. Lawrie, grounds to Jeter, and beats out the throw, great speed by Lawrie, no way are they getting him. Lawrie at first for Rasmus, grounds back to Sabathia throw to Teixeira for the out. But Jays get to Sabathia.
Top 6th: Jesse Litsch now pitching. A very good five innings work by McGowan. He is some comeback story. Granderson, grounds to Johnson at second, throw to Lind. One down for Teixeira, fly ball to Thames in left. Cano, lines it to Bautista in right, and safe on the throw to second. Swisher, with runner in scoring position, does not miss this chance, lines to Thames on left, here comes Cano and this game is all tied up again. Shortlived lead. This is the Yankees. Chavez grounds to McCoy steps on the bag at second to get Swisher.
Bottom 6th: Arencibia leading off, grounds to Jeter, throw to Teixeira. One down for Johnson, singles to centre, 3-3 day for Kelly. McCoy, he singles to right, two on for Thames, strikes out. Two down for Bautista, full count and ball four, semi-intentional walk but bases are loaded again for Encarnacion, time for redemption here Edwin. That is it for Sabathia, Ayala now pitching. NO I don’t believe it, Edwin does it again lines to Grandnerson in centre for the out. Leaves the bases loaded for the second time. Edwin you are supposed to be hitting cleanup tonight.
Top 7th: Posada, grounds to Lind, steps on the bag himself for the first out. Martin grounds to Lawrie, throw to Lind. Two down for Gardner, fly ball to Rasmus in centre. Three up and down for Litsch.
Bottom 7th: Soriano now pitching, setting up the ducks for Rivera. Lind, leading off, strikes out. Lawrie, strikes out, two down for Rasmus, strikes out. Soriano does his job strikes out the side.
Top 8th: Janssen now pitching. Jeter grounds to Johnson at second, throw to Linbd. One down. Granderson pops up to McCoy, two down. Teixeira, strikes out. Janssen as good as Soriano. Great inning.
Bottom 8th: Robertson now pitching. Arencibia leading off, this will do it JP lines it to left, stand up double for JP, he has been hitting ball hard all night. Wise pinch running for JP, this is a huge run. Johnson, ball four, nice at bat Kelly. Two on for McCoy, silly sac bunting here, strikes out. You could see that coming, McCoy was all at sea with that at bat. Thames grounds to Cano, throw to Jeter to get Johnson at second as Wise moves to third. Bautista two on, no pretence this time intentional walk. There is no way that Jose is going to get at bats. Hard to be MVP if he never gets a bat eh Mr. Girardi. That makes it four tonight, ridiculous. Bases loaded once again and look who is here? Encarnacion, does it again fly ball to Swisher in right. Lightning does strike three times at least with Edwin.
Top 9th: Molina now catching. Janssen still pitching. Cano fly ball to Rasmus, one down. Swisher grounds to Johnson, throw to Lind, two outs. Chavez grounds to Johnson, throw to Lind for third out. Great inning by Casey. He has been tremendous all season. Now can the Jays do it here? Advantage to them as Encarnacion will not be hitting.
Bottom 9th: Boone Logan now pitching. Lind, there we go Adam, lines it to right, stand up double for Adam. Just think where the Jays would be tonight with Adam hitting clean up instead of Encarnacion? Loewen the winning run now pinch running at second. Lawrie, intentional walk. Two on for Rasmus, grounds back to Logan throw toChavez at third to get Loewen. Lawrie to second in scoring position. Wade now pitching. Molina hitting. There is a loud mouthed idiot behind us name calling Jose and his weight. HA !!! Jose there we go, lines it to right centre, this one is going to score Lawrie no question and Jays win this one, Molina about to get mobbed by the dugout lead by Lawrie who keeps on running after home plate.
Jays win this one 5-4 and New York Jim is crying in his beer. I can’t see the loud mouth behind me.
Jays outhit the Yankees throughout and not only deserve the win but could have made it much bigger score but for Encarnacion.
The excellent: Has to be Jose Molina with the walk off winning run. Casey Janssen shutting them down for two innings. McGowan definitely a whole lot better than last time but put it in context, this guy should not even be pitching let alone in the majors after what he has been through. Let’s not forget Bautista with his walks and one RBI hit. Plus his bullet throw to get Cano.
The not so good: The Great Big Goat tonight has to be Encarnacion. Bases loaded THREE times and unable to get even one measly base hit and worse still inning ending at bats, leaving them all out there. Whereas Lind, has a great game. Coincidence ? I don’t think so and look to see Lind back in clean-up tomorrow.
Lastly in the not so good category. The constant timewasting by the Yankees, continual trips to the mound, throughout the game.
