Jays shut out and lose second series against the Orioles

Jays v Orioles. Game two of three. Jays really need to get their bats going in Baltimore, they ruined such a great performance by young Alvarez last night with only one run, the home run by Thames of all people. Although he gave it back later by pushing the ball over the wall in left, his own home run was good to see. But that was it. The other major issue is that this is against a team that the Jays used to own and 18 games is lot of games to make a difference in this division. The only luck the Jays had was that the Yankees also lost. Tonight Drabek (2-0) but pitching against Hammel (2-0) and that could spell more trouble for a team that is not hitting. Lineups: Jays: Escobar, Johnson, Bautista, Lind, Thames, Encarnacion, Lawrie, Rasmus, Arencibia and Drabek pitching. Encarnacion playing third tonight not a good idea in my book. He is awful at third. Orioles: Chavez, Hardy, Markakis, Jones, Wieters, Davis, Betemit, Reynolds, Flaherty and Hammel pitching. Top 1st: Escobar, grounds second pitch back to Hammel, throw to first, one down for Johnson, full count, strikes out swinging, two down for Bautista, oh lines it hard to third, Betemit throw to first bounces off the glove of Davis, Jose safe at first. He will take that. Error to Davis. Lind, one on two down. Full count, lazy pop up to Betemit at third to end the inning. Bottom 1st: Chavez, grounds to Lind, takes it himself for the out, one down for Hardy. Fly ball to Bautista in right for the out. Markakis, two down, 2-2 count, full count, grounds to Encarnacion playing third, fumbles it, error to Edwin and Markakis safe at first. Jones, pops first pitch up to Encarnacion for the out, no damage done but don’t tell me that is a great idea having him play at third. Top 2nd: Thames leading off, 3-1 count, grounds it to Hardy at short, throw to first, one down, Encarnacion chance to redeem himself. Slow roller to third, throw to first two quick outs. Lawrie DH tonight, must be champing at the bit to get out there in the action. He would not want a day off. 2-1 count, pulls it down to Betemit at third, playing deep, fumbles it and no chance to get Lawrie as he bounces his throw to first. Rasmus, grounds back to Hammel, drops it but throw is in time to get Rasmus to end the inning. Bottom 2nd: Wieters, this guy has six home runs already this season, not this time as he grounds it to Lind at first, takes it himself for the out. Davis, full count after 0-2 count, grounds to Johnson at second, throw to Lind for second out. Betemit, 3-1 count, this one is trouble, high fly ball to centre over a leaping Rasmus for home run, 1-0 Orioles. Great jump by Colby way over the wall, but the ball was too far. Reynolds, strikes out. Top 3rd: Jays playing catch up. Arencibia, strikes out looking, one down. Escobar, 1-2 count, takes strike three. Two down for Johnson, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. Hammel in a groove here. Bottom 3rd: Flaherty, 3-1 count, outside ball four. Chavez, that will do grounds to Escobar, steps on the bag at second throw to Lind, double play ball. 26 double plays by Jays this season. Hardy, 2-2 count. Outside ball three, lines it to right centre, stand up double. Markakis, two down one in scoring position. Grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind to end that threat. Top 4th: Bautista, full count, grounds to Hardy at short, throw to first, one down. Lind, 2-0 high pitches here from Hammel, 3-0, lost the strike zone, Lind never swings at that one, 3-1 count, down and inside ball four. One on for Thames singles to opposite field left, two on for Encarnancion. Full count, strikes out swinging on ball four inside, two down for Lawrie. 0-2 count, grounds to short, Lawrie beats out the throw, Showalter does not agree. Bases loaded for Rasmus. Full count, strikes out swinging. Jays get to Hammel this inning but not enough. Bottom 4th: Jones, full count, wide ball four, one on for Wieters. There goes Jones, grounds to Johnson, throw to second over to Lind, another double play. Great timing. Davis, 2-2 count, fly ball to left this is trouble carries over the head of Thames into the seats, 2-0 Orioles. Betemit, 2-2 count, strikes out looking but Orioles have added another and the way Jays hitters are hitting in Baltimore this series that should be enough tonight. Top 5th: Jays have scored one run in the last thirteen innings. That will not win many ball games. Arencibia grounds to first for the out. Escobar, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, much too easy for Hammel. Two down for Johnson, pulls it to first, throw to Hammel covering and another easy inning for Hammel. Bottom 5th: Drabek has not pitched badly and has been helped by two double plays but it is run support that is lacking in this series. Reynolds, full count, slow roller to Encarnacion fumbles it yet again, Reynolds safe, that was bread and butter play for Lawrie. Flaherty. Oh boy grounds to Johnson throw to Escobar who throws it away at first, had plenty of time. Flaherty to second on the play. Chavez, Strikes out swinging. Hardy, two down. Drabek should be out of this inning. Lines it to Encarnacion who catches it for the third out, but both Edwin and Escobar did not help Drabek there at all. Pitch count at 88. Top 6th: One run in fourteen innings is cause for concern. Bautista leading off. Pulls it through the hole in left for a single. Lines it hard to left centre but Jones runs it down easily. One down for Thames. First pitch lines it to second, throw to first doubles up Bautista. Nothing much going right for the hapless Jays tonight. Thames didn’t give Jose a chance to take second. Bottom 6th: Markakis, 3-1 count, all four outside. One on for Jones, there goes the runner, lines right at Johnson moving to second to cover runner and tags out Markakis, double play ball. Wieters, singles into right centre. Drabek appears to be laboring here. Davis, fly ball to left for Thames to make the catch. Top 7th: That is it for Drabek, pitched well like Alvarez but his teammates have not helped him. Encarnacion, pulls it into left for a single. Lawrie, 2-2 count. Hammel over 100 pitches but he looks as if he could get complete game here tonight the way Jays hitters are playing. Grounds to Hammel throw to second over to first not in time to get Lawrie, one down. Rasmus. Struck out with bases loaded last time up. High pop up to Jones in shallow centre, two down, Lawrie has to hold. Arencibia, first pitch fly ball to Jones. Jays hitters showing their frustration here. Six more outs to tomorrow’s game. Bottom 7th: Rookie Evan Crawford now pitching, eat some innings to rest the bullpen and why not. Betemit leading off. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging on three pitches, nice. Reynolds, 0-2 count, singles to centre, one on one down for Flaherty. Grounds to Johnson, throw to Escobar over to Lind, double play ball. This time no mistake by Escobar. Good inning by Crawford. Top 8th: Matt Lindstrom now pitching, Jays will not see anymore of Hammel who they were unable to solve but then again they did not have much luck last night either. Escobar leading off. Strikes out swinging. Johnson, 2-2 count, grounds back to Lindstrom throw to first, two down for Bautista. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. Awful. Bottom 8th: Fraser to pitch probably the last inning. Orioles have not hit in the ninth for two successive games. Chavez, 0-2 count, in front of the plate, throw to Lind for the out. Hardy, 0-2 count, strikes out looking, two down for Markakis. Full count, high ball four. Jones two down one on. 0-2 count, 2-2 lines it into left field, here comes Markakis. 3-0 Orioles. Thames misses the cutoff Escobar with his throw and Jones safe at second. Wieters, 2-2 count, Bounces to second throw to first to end this agony. Top 9th: Strop pitching to close it out he was too much for the Jays hitters last night and earned his first save. Jays need four now to win. I for one am not betting on that happening tonight. Lind leading off. Has done nothing tonight with the bat. Singles to left, let’s see if it makes any difference. No pinch runner for Lind so obviously Farrell does not have much faith in them think they will scoring. Thames, bounces back to Strop off his body and Thames safe at first. Two on and nobody out for Encarnacion. Now a pinch runner for Thames. Davis at first. 0-2 count. Fly ball to Jones in centre and Encarnacion falls over, sums up his night. One down, for Lawrie. 0-2 count, grounds to short, throw to second over to first to get Lawrie, double play ball to end the agony for the Jays tonight. One run in 18 innings and counting in Baltimore. Jays have won one against Baltimore in the last five. They have already lost two series against the Orioles home and away even if they score 20 runs tomorrow. That spells big trouble for the next 13 games they still have to play. If they are unable to beat the Orioles this season the may be looking up at the rest of the division. Maybe this team is not as good as they thought they were coming out of spring training. The good: Yes there was some, Drabek pitched well enough to win with reasonable run support. Crawford pitched a good inning of relief. And of course the double plays tonight four of them and could have been five. The not so good: Where do we start? The whole lineup from 1-9 tonight unable to score a run, any run. Rasmus striking out with bases loaded. Mistakes by Escobar, Encarnacion two at third who should never ever start a game at third base and Farrell should take the heat for that decision. Not only is he a lousy fielder at third but it also noticeable took out the energy that Lawrie brings to the game. Watching this group tonight, they looked and played with no energy, lethargic is an excellent word. There was no dynamo at third in the form of Lawrie. To see him pacing up and down in the dugout is cruelty. That energy should be out on the field. It would have made a difference tonight. To be fair to Edwin also he probably was not too happy out there at third, remembering his disasterous last season play at third.