Arencibia blows this one despite Jats bats finally coming alive

Mariners v Jays. Game one of three. Jays attempt to get some respectability this weekend, but this is not the issue for two reasons, one they can beat up on the west and central, but it is the eastern teams they should be most concerned about not least their inability so far to beat the Orioles. That spells big trouble for the rest of the season. Secondly looking at the current MLB averages the first Blue Jay is at number 51 ! and that is Lawrie who does not even have a full season in the majors. Bautista ? at 87 but not just Jose lack of hitting where are all the others ? especially Lind ? Don’t expect anything easier now they are home. They face the Mariners fresh out of Detroit and a sweep of a very good team at home that most pick for the divison title and then Texas who are right now 8-1 on the road and probable Western division champions this season. This could be an ugly home stand for the Jays. Lineups: Mariners: Ackley, Ryan, Suzuki, Smoak, Montero, Liddi, Saunders, Olivio, Wells, and Blake Beaven pitching. Jays: Escobar, Johnson, Bautista, Lind, Encarnacion, Thames, Lawrie, Rasmus, Arencibia and Romero pitching. Ricky can pitch his heart out tonight but unless Jays hitters score it will be of no value. Top 1st: No Ichiro leading off, seems really strange to see Ackley out there leading off, fly ball to Bautista in right, one down. Ryan, 0-2 count, bounces to Lind, takes it himself for second out. Ichiro, 1-2 count, grounds to Lind for third out. Romero pitch count 15. Bottom 1st: Escobar, 0-2 count, grounds back to Beaven, throw to first one down for Johnson. Lifts it into shallow centre, Bautista with one on one down. Pops it up right infield for the out, two down. Lind. 1-2 count, whoa, pickoff gets away at first and Johnson running all the way to third. Error to Beaven, Lind drives it to left for the out. All we needed was a single Adam, everyone wants to be a hero and go deep. No situational hitting. Pitch count 14. Top 2nd: Smoak leading off, pops up to Escobar, one down for Montero. Pops it up shallow right for Bautista to make the catch two down for Liddi, full count, strikes out swinging. Pitch count 29. Bottom 2nd: Encarnacion, 2-1 count, that’s better, drives this one high off the windows in centre, home run to Edwin. As we said last night, keep Edwin as DH, fielding is not his bag for whatever the reason.1-0 Jays. Thames, strikes out throw to first, one down. Lawrie, grounds to short as he shatters his bat, throw to first for the second out. Rasmus, full count, lines it off the wall in right centre, he is going all the way, and a triple for Colby. His hands are so quick when he drives that ball. Arencibia, full count, lines it to third, but great diving save by Liddi and throw to first for the out. Jays leave a player at third for the second time tonight but they are on the board. 37 pitch count. Top 3rd: Saunders, 3-0, low ball four, walks the leadoff, not good Ricky. Olivo, 2-0 and now Romero has lost the strike zone bigtime, that was headhigh outside.3-0 in danger of walking two. Outside ball four, eight consecutive balls. Looks as if the lead will be shortlived. Wells, take a strike, first one this inning ! 2-2 count, high full count, takes strike three, looked high but it is called a strike for the first out. Ackley, two on one down. 1-2 count, grounds back to Romero, over to Escobar at second or the out back to Lind not in time. Two down runners on the corners. Ryan, grounds to third, off glove of Lawrie, throw to Lind not in time and run scores 1-1. Error on Lawrie. Farrell out to argue but probably trying to get some e fire into this team Suzuki with two on and two down. 2-2 count, lines it to Thames. Romero cannot complain he dug himself the hole with the two walks, a 26 pitch inning. 55 pitch count. I think we will be seeing some long relief tonight from Villanueva. Bottom 3rd: Escobar, first pitch grounds to short, throw to first, one down, Romero will not be happy with that first pitch swinging, he needs a break to regroup, that was a long inning. Johnson, full count, strikes out swinging, two down for Bautista, .191 average and sliding. Pops it up to third, ten pitch inning. Pitch count at 47. Top 4th: Smoak, fly ball to Rasmus for the first out. Montero, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down. Liddi, bounces to Escobar, throw to Lind for three up and down inning. Eight pitches, that’s what Romero needs. 63 pitch count. Bottom 4th: Lind, full count, high but Lind chases it for the strikeout. Encarnacion, 2-2 count, hammers it to the wall in left and just beats the very close throw at second. Thames, 1-2 count, grounds to Ryan at short, Edwin has to hold but throw by Ryan from the ground has nothing on it and not in time to get Thames, two on one down for Lawrie. Pops it up to second for the out, Rasmus, need another triple Colby. 2-2 count. Perfect, this will do, drives it into right field corner and here comes both runners, Encarnacion and Thames as Colby has a stand up double. 3-1 Jays. Arencibia, 0-2 count, grounds to third, throw to first for the out. 71 pitch count. Top 5th: Romero with a lead again. Saunders, grounds to Johnson, throw to Lind for the out. Olivo, fly ball to Bautista in right, two down. Wells, two down, 1-2 count, great curve strikes him out looking. Nine pitch inning. 72 pitch count. Bottom 5th: Boston, Yankees and Baltimore losing right now. Tampa winning. Top of the order Escobar. Pulls it to second throw to first for the out. One down for Johnson, 2-2 count, takes strike three, two down for Bautista. .188 average, ouch Jose. Full count. Turns on it hard and foul second deck left. Gets hold of this one as well but just underneath it to fly ball to centre for the out. Almost and looks as if he is seeing the ball now. 85 pitches. Top 6th: Ackley leading off. 1-2 count, lines it to Bautista in right, stand up double. Ryan, lines it to Rasmus in centre for the out. One down for Suzuki, 1-2 count, grounds to Escobar, quick throw to Lind to get Ichiro. Two down with Ackley at third. Smoak, full count, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind for third out. 90 pitch count. Romero might get one more inning in. Bottom 6th: Lind, grounds first pitch to second, throw to first for the out, Encarnacion, 2-2 count. Pops it up to short. Thames, singles back up the middle, one on two down for Lawrie. Hit on the hand, two on for Rasmus. That is it for Beaven, here comes the manager. Erasmo Ramirez now pitching. Rasmus drives this one hard to centre but great running catch by Saunders to rob him of two runs. Top 7th: Yankees, Red Sox and Rays all winning now. Only the Orioles losing.That figures. Montero, 3-1 count, drives this one to left and over the fence. 3-2 game. Liddi grounds to Lind, throw to Romero for the out. Saunders, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down for Olivio. Singles to Rasmus in centre. One on two down. Frasor warming up in Jays bullpen. Wells, this is big trouble, drives it to the wall in right centre, Olivio scores, 3-3 game. Wells to second. Ackley, full count, high ball four, that is it for Romero. Not good enough tonight. Frasor to face Ryan. Two on two down. 1-2 count, fly ball to Bautista for third out. Romero is saved for now. 117 pitches. That third inning hurt him. Bottom 7th: Arencibia, hit on the elbow, one on for Escobar, bunting and up first base line, Aresmo throw to first for the out as Arencibia moves to second. Johnson, but that is it for Aresmo. Steve Delabar now pitching. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. Two down for Bautista. 2-0, here comes pitching coach. Putting him on, so much for strategy. That is it for Delabar one intentional walk ? I think Aresmo could have done that. Lucas Luetge, lefty lefty for Lind matchup. 2-1 count, oh boy, Lind lines it to Suzuki in right, here comes Arencibia, throw is to the plate and Arencibia is out. Now the question will be why was there not a pinch runner at second for Arencibia? Davis would have scored easily. Top 8th: Oliver pitching. Ichiro leading off, 1-1 count, grounds back to Oliver, throw to Lind for the out. Smoak, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down for Montero, that is it for Oliver. Oh, Casey Janssen in to face Montero. This is interesting day after Casey’s last outing where he gave up the home run. Grounds to Johnson at second for the third out. Nice Casey. Bottom 8th: Tom Wilhelmsen now pitching. Encarnacion, 0-2, grounds to short, throw to first for the out. Thames, whoa hammers this one to right centre, off the facing and home run to Thames, that was a bullet. sorry Travis, 4-3 Jays. Lawrie singles into left. Rasmus, Pick off to first gets away and there goes Lawrie all the way to third, wow.... Now intentional walk to Colby, respect Colby look at it that way. Arencibia, with two on and one down. This will do it, fly ball to right Suzuki, throw comes in but Lawrie scores, 5-3 Jays. Escobar with Rasmus at first, two down. Singles to Suzuki in right, Rasmus stops at second. Two on two down for Johnson. It would be good to get Jose another at bat. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, leaves two on. Top 9th: Cordero now pitching. Davis in for Thames in left. Liddi, fly ball to right for Bautista, one down for Saunders. Full count, oh dear, lines this one high into centre, off restaurant windows, 5-4 Jays, we may yet see Jose bat. Olivio, 0-2 count, pops it up into shallow left for Escobar to make the catch, two down for Pinch hitter Kyle Seagher. NO. grounds first pitch to Lawrie, throw to Lind drops the ball, short hopped him, error to Lawrie. One on two down for Ackley. Pinch runner Kawasaki. 2-1 count, that was stupid. Arencibia throws to first and airmails it in to right, Kawasaki all the way to third, no need for that JP. Error on him. Percentage play with little chance. Now intentional walk to start over, Ryan with two on. John Jaso pinch hitter. 2-2 count, singles to Rasmus. Here comes Kawasaki for tying run, Johnson throw to the plate and Arencibia gets Ackley. What a fiasco. 5-5 game. Bottom 9th: Well at least Jose gets another at bat, grounds to Liddi at third, throw to first for the out. That is it for Wilhelmsen. Charlie Furbush pitching. Lind, lefty lefty. 2-2 count, fly ball to Figgins in left, two down for Encarnacion. Full count, strikes out swinging. Took him 10 pitches though. Top 10th: Perez pitching. Jays bullpen getting overworked here. Ichiro, grounds to Lawrie, throw no mistake to Lind chest high for Adam. Smoak, singles into left, one on one down for Montero. Same again, singles to exactly the same place, two on one down for Liddi. 1-2 count, singles to left, Davis fumbles the ball but runner held at third. Question who is placing the infield with three balls in exactly the same spot ? Bases loaded for Saunders. 1-2 count. Oh my, high fly ball to right and over the fence, grand slam. 9-5 Seattle. That is it for Perez. Villanueva now pitching. No chance tonight of long relief. Olivo, 1-2 count, bounces back to Villanueva, throw to Lind two down. Kawasaki, singles back up the middle. Ackley, 0-2 count, Kawasaki running ? that is tacky by Seattle with a four run lead, but pitch out and throw gets him out at second. Bottom 10th: ex-Jay Brandon League now pitching, Davis leading off. Grounds to second, throw to first one down. Lawrie, 1-1 count, bounces to third, throw to first for the second out. Rasmus, grounds to second throw to first and Jays woes continue. But self inflicted tonight. The good: Encarnacion and Rasmus with good nights at the plate. Thames also broke out with some excellent hitting. The crowd, many stayed to the ninth. Noisy crowd tonight for a Toronto crowd, 24,000 plus. Romero was not at his best but apart from two innings he kept the team in the game. Great to see Casey Janssen get back up after last night home run. The good also to see Jays actually get some runs, that is a plus after the last series. Cordero was victimized by Lind and Arencibia. Perez has been overused. The errors: Two on Lawrie, tough second error as Lind could and should have made the play. If he wants throws chest high every time he should not be playing first base. The bad: Three errors in the game, two by Lawrie BUT the second was Lind not catching a ball that he gets his glove on. Should have had that one. The very bad: Has to be the throw by Arencibia in the ninth to try to pick off Kawasaki at first, that was a stupid play, very very small chance of getting him and major chance of it getting away from Lind who is showing signs of weakness at first. No need at all to even attempt it in that situation. Arencibia’s defensive weaknesses are starting to hurt this team. Bautista watch ? had some good strong at bats but still struggling. Concerns now are on the bullpen, they are being overworked and when they pitch every day problems start and you could see it tonight with Perez.