Friday, September 23, 2011

Morrow beats Price in Tampa with excellent outing and power support from Kelly Johnson

Jays v Tampa Rays. Game one of three.

Rays are flying high right now, they are within striking distance of Boston who has to play the Yankees this weekend and especially after that 15-8 drubbing of the Yankees last night, even though it was a team full of call-ups, it is always good to thrash the Yankees at home. This will be tough series for the Jays but they should be well relaxed and loose this weekend and can make a difference in that play-off race. Yankees- Boston rained out tonight and will play double header in Sunday, that is tough.

Lineups: Jays: McCoy, Thames, Bautista, Encarnacion, Johnson, Molina, Rasmus, Arencibia, Cooper and Morrow pitching.
Rays: Jennings, Upton, Longoria, Damon, Zobrist, Kotchman, Joyce, Rodriguez, Shoppach and Price pitching.

Top 1st: McCoy leading off, strikes out on three pitches didn’t even move his bat ??? come on Mikey have to swing at one of them. Thames, strikes out swinging at high ball. Bautista, with two down. Full count, high fly ball to Upton in centre for third out. Rays are not messing around with this series they need every win. Pitch count 12.
Bottom 1st: Jennings, 3-1 count, the other extreme from Price, ball four, here we go. One on for Upton, 2-2 count strikes out swinging one down for Longoria. Longoria, 2-2 count, there goes Jennings and safe on the throw. Full count, strikes out swinging, two down for Damon with runner at second. Full count, inside ball four. Already 24 pitches for Morrow. Zobrist, strikes out swinging and strikes out the side, but at what cost ? Pitch count 29.

Top 2nd: Encarnacion, first pitch swinging of course, fly ball to Joyce in right for easy out, Johnson, grounds to Kotchman at first on the first pitch, what is with these people? Two pitches two outs, I hate that, no excuse. Molina, full count, much better, at least make the guy work for the out. Grounds to Longoria throw to first for third out but that was one pathetic display by Jays hitters Encarnacion and Johnson. Pitch count 21.
Bottom 2nd: Kotchman, 2-2 strikes out looking, one down for Joyce, grounds to first, Morrow and Cooper mess this one up, Morrow left it for Cooper but Cooper not ready. Rodriguez with one on one down. 0-2 count. Strikes out swinging, number five for Morrow but.... Shoppach, two down one on. 0-2 count, ball gets away and Joyce goes to second. Full count, strikes out swinging but 48 pitch count for Morrow despite striking out the six hitters.

Top 3rd: Rasmus leading off. Grounds first pitch to Zobrist, out at first. One down for Arencibia. Loops this one to Joyce in right centre and drops the ball, should have had that one but Jays will accept it. No error given. Cooper he owes Morrow one, full count, grounds back to Price, throw to second and ball gets away, Arencibia was running on the pitch. Both runners safe. Error to Price. McCoy, drives it to Joyce in right, bases loaded one down for Thames. OH BOY, grounds it back to Price throw home gets away from the catcher and Arencibia safe and here comes Cooper 2-0 Jays. WOW. Second error to Price. Bautista with two in scoring position, Sorry Jose, intentional walk here. Bases loaded again and look who is here? His seventh try at getting a hit. Edwin Encarnacion and you know he is not hitting this one out. Bases loaded one down. Pops up first pitch but fortunately back into the crowd, 2-2 count, pops it up into shallow right for the out, the good news is that it was not Edwin’s usual double play. Two down for Johnson. 2-2 count, 50pc loops it into shallow centre here comes the run McCoy followed by Thames, no throw behind Bautista at second and he is out, that scrubs the fourth run. Man this team has so many poor base running errors and that was Bautista. Jays get three but could have, should have been more. 3-0 Jays. Pitch count 51 for Price. Boston will be happy in New York with this score so far. Pitch count 52. Long 31 pitch inning for Price.
Bottom 3rd: Morrow has Jennings, grounds to McCoy, throw to Encarnacion, one down. Upton, high fly ball to Rasmus for out number two, Longoria, ouch that would hurt, right on the ribs. One on for Damon, 1-2 count, grounds to McCoy bobbles it but throw in time to get Damon at first. Good inning for Morrow. Pitch count 60.

Top 4th: Can Jays continue the hits against Price? Molina, full count, strikes out swinging. One down for Rasmus, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, Rasmus still searching for a good hitting streak, his average is sinking fast. Arencibia, with two down. 2-2 count, drives it to Joyce in right for the third out. 68 pitch count.
Bottom 4th: Zobrist, high pop up to Bautista in right, one down for Kotchman, 2-2 count, strikes out, two down for Joyce, high pop up to Arencibia, pitch count 70. A lot better than that first 29 pitch inning.

Top 5th: Cooper leading off. Grounds to Kotchman at first, one down. McCoy, full count, high ball four. Thames with one on one down. McCoy going and safe without a throw. Thames singles up the middle to Upton and McCoy all the way from second to score, 4-0 Jays. Bautista now 0-2 and strikes out on high fast ball. Two down for Encarnacion. 3-1 count, lines it right at Longoria for the out. 87 pitch count.
Bottom 5th: Rodriguez, full count, inside ball four. Shoppach, fly ball to Rasmus in centre, one down. Jennings, perfect, grounds to Johnson at second, steps on the bag himself throw to Cooper double play. First double play ball by Morrow in 30 starts. Pitch count 80.Take out that first inning with 29 pitches and this guy would be cruising.

Top 6th: Johnson, YES Kelly, gets hold of this one high into right field corner, this one is OUT of here. Wow. 5-0 Jays. Molina, 0-2 strikes out swinging, one down for Rasmus, come on Colby, your turn. Not this time pops it up to Longoria at third, two down. Arencibia, 2-2 count, Strikes out looking on pitch number 100.
Bottom 6th: Upton, fly ball to Bautista in right, one down. Longoria, high fly ball to Thames in left, two down. Damon, 2-2 count, grounds to Cooper at first, takes it himself for the out. Pitch count 92. Maybe another inning left in him ?

Top 7th: End of road for Price, Cesar Ramos now pitching another lefty. Cooper at bat. 1-2 count, bounces to Zobrist at second, throw to Kotchman beats out Cooper, McCoy, drives it to Upton in centre, two down. Thames, strikes out swinging.
Bottom 7th: Zobrist leading off, full count, strikes out, one down for Kotchman grounds back up the middle to Rasmus, one on one down. Joyce, grounds to Cooper, high throw to McCoy should have been double play. Cooper owes another to Morrow. Two down for Rodriguez, full count, ball four, two on two down. Shoppach, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Number nine for Morrow tonight. Cooper is breathing again.

Top 8th: Bautista leading off, Jose can help Morrow here, in fact all Jays hitters can. Dane de la Rosa now pitching. 2-2 count, knocks Jose down, watch out Dane. Grounds to Longoria, throw to Kotchman at first, one down. Encarnacion, lines it to Joyce in right. Two down for Johnson, full count, grounds to Zobrist, throw to Kotchman for third out.
Bottom 8th: Carreno now pitching. Top of the order Jennings. 2-2 count, grounds to McCoy throw to Cooper for the out. One down for Upton, 3-0 count, careful here, outside ball four, one on for Longoria, Carreno playing with fire. There goes Upton and Arencibia throw gets him. Great throw JP. Perfect. Upton does not agree, arguing and now thrown out of game. Two down, 1-2 count, strikes out looking to end the inning. Nice pitching once again by Carreno.

Top 9th: Molina leading off. It would be good to get a couple more here. J. P. Howell pitching another lefty. Ruggiano in for Upton in centre. 0-2 count, takes strike three. One down for Rasmus, grounds to Kotchman takes it himself for the out. Two down, Arencibia, full count, grounds it to left through the infield, one on two down for Cooper, he owes Morrow big-time. Pops it up to Longoria.
Bottom 9th: Perez now pitching. Damon leading off. 3-0 count, this is not what we need Luis. Full count, ball four. One on for Zobrist, 2-2 count, grounds to Perez flip to Cooper to get Zobrist, one down. Damon at second. Kotchman, 2-1 count, grounds to Cooper, takes it to the bag himself for second out as Damon goes to third. Two down for Joyce, full count, lifts it into centre for Rasmus, Damon scores 5-1 Jays. Joyce at first, Rodriguez, 1-2 count, grounds to Cooper, steps on the bag to end the game. Perez bent there but did not break.

Jays win big game here in context of the play-off spot. Rays had a chance to pick one up on the idle Red Sox and put more pressure on both them and the Angels. 5-1 Jays.

The excellent: Morrow after a horrible first inning lasted seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts. Jays 3-5 with runners in scoring position, a huge improvement.
The very good: Johnson home run and a two hit night. Arencibia two hit night and a great throw to get Upton in the 8th.
The not so good: Cooper two poor defensive plays. Bautsta caught off second going too far around the bag.

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