Jays make it close but poor hitting and even worse defensive plays ruin game for McGowan

Jays v White Sox. Game one of final regular season series.

Jays in their last series for 2011 after disappointing series in Tampa although they did spoil Rays chances for one at least. Not sure whether we should be happy helping the Red Sox though. Tonight we see last game for McGowan, the comeback story of the season surely. Good to see he has shaved off those sideburns, he blamed AJ Burnett for them but didn’t like them himself. Superstitious baseball players.

Line-ups: Jays: McCoy, Thames, Bautista, Lind, Johnson, Arencibia, Teahen playing at third base, Rasmus, Loewen and McGowan pitching. This is not a bad line-up considering all the injuries. Jose in the line-up tonight despite the knee and will be playing DH. No Encarnacion, thankfully. Lind back in the line-up after birth of his daughter.
White Sox: Pierre, Ramirez, Pierzynski, Viciedo, Dunn, Morel, De Aza, Flowers, Beckham, and Axelrod pitching.

Top 1st: McCoy leading off, pops it up to De Aza in shallow centre, one down for Thames, first pitch swinging, grounds to Beckham at second, throw to Flowers at first,. Bautista two down, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. Nine pitch inning thanks to Thames, I wish he would be more disciplined but then that might not help Travis get back in the line-up.
Bottom 1st: Pierre lines it to left but right at Thames for the out. Ramirez, 2-2 count, pops it up to Thames in shallow left, two down. Pierzynski, lines it to right and Loewen overruns it, Pierzynski to second on the play. Error to Loewen. Viciedo, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging and Loewen breathes again. Pitch count 15.

Top 2nd: Lind leading off, perhaps he can celebrate big time in Chicago. 1-2 count, not this at bat, strikes out swinging. One down for Johnson, full count, singles to right. One on one down for Arencibia. 1-2 count, ouch, up and inside, hits him, two on one down for Teahen, ex White Sox, would love to get hold of one here. 3-1 count, outside ball four. Bases loaded for Rasmus, lines it to Flowers at first, throw to second but Arencibia safe, whoa. Loewen, chance to make up for that error. Bases still loaded on two down, Loewen lines it to left but Pierre with his speed no problem. Not good, Jays leave the bases loaded. Pitch count 36.
Bottom 2nd: Dunn, full count, high ball four. One on for Morel, pops it up to Lind, drops it, in the lights, throw to second to get Dunn, but could have gone to McGowan at first and then second for double play. Missed that chance. One down one on for DeAza, ouch hits him on the foot. McGowan a little wild here. Two on one down. Flowers, 0-2 count, gets hold of this one, this one is out of here, high fly ball into left centre and Sox go out ahead 3-0. Beckham, one down, 2-2 count, pops it up to Johnson, two down. Pierre, grounds to Johnson, throw to Lind for third out. Jays hitters have some work to do and before the storm rolls in. Pitch count 41, ugly inning Dustin but then Lind did not help you much.

Top 3rd: McCoy,1-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for Thames. Full count, grounds to Flowers at first throw to Axelrod to just beat out Thames, Two down for Bautista, just misses this one and pops it up to Pierzynski for third out. Pitch count 47.
Bottom 3rd: Ramirez, 3-1 count, inside ball four. One on for Pierzynski, grounds it up the middle, Johnson makes nice backhand play but McCoy drops the ball. Both runners safe instead of double play, poor Dustin. Viciedo, drives it to Loewen in right, great play and throws it back to hold runner at second, one down. Dunn, 2-2 count, ball gets away and both runners move up. Not good with one down as fly ball will score. Strikes out swinging, two down. Morel, 1-2 count, whoa strikes out swinging, very nice pitching Dustin escapes this time. Pitch count 59.

Top 4th: Jays hitters owe McGowan now. How about giving him a break here and get those bats going. Starting with this guy, Lind. Drives it to centre but wind blows it back in for DeAza to make the catch. Johnson, 1-2 count, grounds back to Axelrod, throw to Flowers, two down. Arencibia, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. 55 pitch count and finding Jays hitters easy pickings tonight.
Bottom 4th: De Aza pops it up to Thames in left centre, one down. Flowers first pitch high fly ball to Rasmus, two down. Beckham, 3-1 count, outside ball four, one on two down for Pierre, 1-1 count, grounds to first, Lind dives and deflects it past Johnson. Pierre safe at first, nothing going right tonight for McGowan. Two on for Ramirez, pops it up to Loewen in right to end the inning. 73 pitch count.

Top 5th: Teahen leading off, long, long overdue for anything even a hit will do here. You heard me Mark, singles it into right. One on for Rasmus, 1-2 count, pops it high to Flowers running in from first. One down for Loewen, lines into right field corner and safe at second for a double. Teahen to third, two in scoring position, one down. McCoy first pitch, man, pops it up to that was bush play Mikey. Come on. Even your bunting would have helped here to get this team on the board, but first pitch out ? Thames now two down. 2-1 count, rain starting. 2-2, Villanueva warming up in bullpen. Strikes out swinging. Awful, if this team works on anything in spring training it had better be clutch hitting. 0-4 tonight.
Bottom 5th: McGowan did not stand a chance tonight with that type of play behind him. Villanueva now pitching. Dustin was on a pitch count. Pierzysnki pops up to Rasmus for the out. One down for Viciedo, fly ball to Loewen in right centre. Two down, Sox want to get to the 6th inning for the win if rained out. Dunn, full count, strikes out swinging. Lots of boos for Dunn.

Top 6th: Bautista leading off. Inside almost hits Jose, full count, outside ball four. Lind, not a good night for Adam on his return, must have had some sleepless nights. Pops it up to Beckham at second, one down, Jose has to hold. Johnson, wow high fly ball to right, that was home run shot but wind is keeping it in and carrying way over to the fence for the out by Viciedo, that was weird to watch, two down, Arencibia. Strikes out swinging. Pitch count 90.
Bottom 6th: Morel, 2-2 count, fly ball to Loewen in right, one down for De Aza singles to Rasmus in centre, Flowers, one on one down, there goes De Aza and safe on the throw. Flowers pops it up to Loewen in right, De Aza holds at second. Two down for Beckham grounds to Teahen nice play in front of McCoy and throw to Lind for third out.

Top 7th: Jays hitters running out of chances now but have not looked like scoring all night. Teahen, lefty Will Ohman now pitching. No more Axelrod will that be enough. 0-2 count, strikes out, one down. Rasmus, why do the Jays not have more switch hitters? Grounds to Beckham at second throw to first for second out. Loewen, another lefty, third in a row this inning. 2-2 count, grounds to Ramirez at short, throw to first. Jays on their way to being shut out again tonight.
Bottom 7th: Kyle Drabek pitching. Pierre, 0-2 count, fly ball to Thames in left, one down. Ramirez, grounds to second past Drabek but Johnson gets ball stuck in glove and no chance to throw. Safe at first. Pierzynski, grounds up the middle McCoy throw to first to get the out. Two down, runner at second. Viciedo, 2-1 count, lines it over the head of Loewen to the wall in right, Ramirez scores 4-0 White Sox. Viciedo at second, Dunn, 3-1 count, ball four, two on two down for Morel. Walton out to settle Drabek down, to be fair he should have been out of the inning if Johnson had not messed up his play. 3-1 count, pitch away from loading the bases. Whoa, grounds to Teahen at third, bobbles the ball but recovers for throw to Lind to get Morel. Tough inning for Drabek but not all his fault.

Top 8th: Jesse Crain now pitching. McCoy, will want to forget his game tonight. Full count, ball four, where was this patience all game. Thames, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for Bautista. 3-1 count, there goes McCoy as Jose has to swing at ball high to protect him, McCoy safe at second on the throw. Full count, high ball four. Two on, semi-intentional walk. Two on but that is it for Crain. Matt Thornton another lefty now pitching Lind, there goes the runners and both safe without a throw, but no good if Lind unable to bring them in. 1-2 count, finally grounds to Ramirez at short, throw to first to get Lind as McCoy scores, 4-1 Sox. Johnson, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. Leaving yet another in scoring position.
Bottom 8th: Chad Beck now pitching. De Aza leading off. Grounds to Johnson, throw to Lind just gets De Aza. Flowers, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging on 96mph pitch. Two down Beckham, pops it high to Johnson as the wind makes it interesting.

Top 9th: Last chance for Jays. Arencibia, Teahen and Rasmus. One hit between the three of them, and that was Teahen, that type of night. Santos the closer in to finish them off. Arencibia, full count, JP trying at least. Inside ball four. Teahen, would love to get a hit here against his old team. There you go Mark, drives it into centre, Arencibia all the way to third. Rasmus, nobody out. Two on, one in scoring position. 2-2 count, called out on strikes, that was an iffy. One down for Loewen, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Maybe a pinch hitter would have been called for there. Now Cooper is pinch hitting for McCoy, two down two on, Teahen takes second, no throw. Full count, WHOA lines this one to the wall in left and here comes Arencibia, here comes Teahen, and Jay get two more, 4-3 game. Woodward pinch running for Cooper, Thames now with runner in scoring position. 2-1 count, 27 pitches. 2-2, way outside, full count. high ball four, two on two down for Bautista. Showdown at OK Corral time. Jose hitless tonight. wild pitch and Woodward moves up but Thames stays put !!! Not good at all Eric. 2-1 count. 3-1 count, full count. Jose thought it was ball four. Low ball four, how can he take that pitch, wow. Lind now with bases loaded. Wise pinch running for Bautista. 2-2 count, strikes out on inside pitch, and White Sox win. Lind leaves the bases loaded. Not an evening he will want to remember. Santos threw 44 pitches in that one inning.

The good: Teahen, his best game since he joined the Jays. Two hits a walk and a run, fired up against his old team but sadly not many others in his dugout tonight. Cooper a pinch hit two RBI double to get Jays within one in the 9th. Bautista with three walks. Chad Beck had nice relief inning as did Villanueva with two scoreless innings.
Not so good: Poor defensive plays hurt McGowan tonight. Loewen error, Lind drops the ball, and McCoy drops the ball and misses possible double play. McCoy pops up first pitch in the 5th with two in scoring position. Lack of clutch hitting all round. 1-10 with runners in scoring position says it all. Thames, representing the go ahead run brain spasm in the 9th not moving up into scoring position on the wild pitch.

Notes for next season: Both McCoy and Thames are not good enough for the team but will be good bench players, although if Johnny Mac is back McCoy will be in Vegas or traded.